Compound wall for Mysuru film city project begins in spite of delays

Mysuru: The proposed film city in Mysuru continues to face delays despite the state govt allocating 160 acres at Himmavu near Mysuru.Construction of a compound wall costing Rs 7 crore is under way while DPR preparation has reached the final stage. The state govt has announced to set up a project near Mysuru after it was proposed to be shifted to Ramanagara.The construction of a film city to promote the Kannada film industry is a four-decade-old dream of the govt. The then chief minister Ramakrishna Hegde mooted the idea of film city in the 1980s. Even former CM SM Krishna also dreamt of building a film city in 2004, but it did not materialise.As most Kannada actors, film directors and other bigwigs, expressed their wish to set up the project near Mysuru as the city is known as the City of Palaces and due to the presence of scenic spots in and around Mysuru, the project again gained momentum during the tenure of CM Siddaramaiah in his first term in 2013. Siddaramaiah govt also identified 160 acres for construction of film city near Immavu village in Nanjangud taluk in 2017.As the selection of spots for the film city project took political colour, the project was proposed to be shifted to Ramanagara during HD Kumaraswamy's tenure in 2018. Former CM BS Yediyurappa announced to set up the film city on 500 acres at Devika Rani Roerich estate in Hesaraghatta near Bengaluru.After toying with the idea of building a film city in several locations by different govts across the state, finally the uncertainty of the project of establishment of the film city was resolved during the second tenure of CM Siddaramaiah. He allotted the land for implementing the project and tasked the department of information and public relations to implement the project last year. Now the construction of compound wall is going on in full swing.Nodal officer for film city project TK Harish said the public works department is constructing the compound wall at the cost of Rs 7 crore. The department also held several meetings with bigwigs of Sandalwood and producers association regarding the preparation of techno-economic feasibility report to work out the cost of the project, economic viability, engineering design and other aspects, he said, adding a detailed project report to build the city will be submitted to the govt.