Vulture cloud on Sholay theme village near Bengaluru

Bengaluru: A proposed Sholay-themed village near Bengaluru has come under scrutiny because the area falls inside a vulture sanctuary. Forest officials said the area in Ramanagaram, which was Gabbar Singh's den Ramgarh in Sholay, was protected forest land where a vulture sanctuary had been set up and so it could not be used for commercial purposes. The district administration has chalked out a plan in consultation with the Karnataka government to build a three-dimensional "virtual reality village" to recreate the magic of Sholay through 3D printing of the characters from the 70s blockbuster and computer-generated simulation of 3D images. The Rs 7.5-crore project is supposed to come up at Ramadevara Betta (Ramadeva's Hill), the exact spot where scenes involving Gabbar were shot and where a part of the vulture sanctuary is now located. State forest department officials said the project was unlikely to get sanction if it affected wild life conservation. "We haven't received the formal proposal for the project, which would anyway fall right inside the sanctuary," principal chief conservator of forests Kishan Singh Sugara told The Telegraph today. He said technically, it would not be possible to allow any commercial project in the protected zone. "We will make our observations according to the rule book once the project is sent to us," Sugara said. Vijay Kumar, the deputy conservator of forests of Ramanagaram, 50km from Bangalore, said the area being considered for the 3D village was ecologically sensitive. "It is a vulture sanctuary and thus protected forest land with a buffer of 10km radius that cannot be used for commercial or residential projects," he said. According to the Wildlife Protection Act, a protected area and its buffer zone have to be safeguarded. "No projects can come up in this area," said Kumar, whose jurisdiction covers the patch recommended for the project. The sanctuary is home to more than 30 Egyptian and Indian long-billed vultures. The Indian vultures are a critically endangered species that has recorded a decline of 97 per cent in the country. "The only area inside the sanctuary where people are allowed to enter is the road that leads to the Ramadevara temple," Kumar said. People are allowed to visit the ancient shrine on a hillock during the day. Earlier, trekking was allowed Ramadevara Betta. A tiny hamlet inhabited by the Iruliga tribe is now the only settlement near the sanctuary. Karnataka tourism minister Priyank Kharge told news agency PTI that the state government would evaluate the proposal. He said some Sholay locales that fall inside the vulture sanctuary, such as Gabbar's den, Thakur's haveli and the rocky terrain where Basanti dances, would have to be recreated outside the prohibited area, if the project is implemented. The Ramanagaram district commissioner did not respond to repeated calls. Padma Ashok, a Bangalore-based wildlife activist who recently finished a one-year study on the sanctuary, said the project would pose a threat to the birds. "Such a project will certainly upset the equilibrium of the place. Even the current flow of occasional visitors and bikers has been a worry. Anything bigger will certainly damage the sanctuary," she said. Audio-visual equipment, multiple screens and laser disc-based projection apparatus are some of the gadgets that will be part of the planned 3D village. Vijay Nishant, a wildlife and environment activist, said activists would protest if such a project was allowed inside the sanctuary. "We don't want the government to mess up nature like it did with our cities," he said, referring to alleged unplanned urban development.