GADAG: Taking a peek into the past is more than a pastime. You may find nuggets of gold, or stumble upon stories soaked in the sweat of past generations. Definitely, there would be something to pause, ponder and savour.
The state tourism department is planning to invite people to go down memory lane by throwing open the now defunct British-era gold mines at Kappatagudda. The idea is to attract the 21st century diversion seekers as part of its elaborate ‘One District, One Destination’ environmental tourism. The Rs 18.26 crore project is expected to let tourists explore the abandoned tunnels which were used to mine gold.
Kappatagudda has six tunnels in Kanavi, Hosur and surrounding villages that range from 2-km to 8-km. Tourists can see railway lines, mechanical lifts and other equipment that were used in the 19th century by the East India Company and other mining companies.
The locals used to enter these caves to look for gold but the Gadag district administration stopped the diggers’ entry in 2018. The gold mining area is located at the foothills of Kappatagudda, which has deposits of gold and diamonds. The British mined here first in the 1900s, and the mine was shut during the 1990s by the last operator, Bharat Gold Mines Ltd.
Earlier youths in the villages near the mining tunnels used to venture inside and dig through mud and rocks to lay hands on traces of gold and used to sell the same to local jewellers. They, however, used to get very little gold.
The Tungabhadra flows very near to Kappatagudda making this a verdant region. With Galigundi Basavanna and Kappatamallayya temples located atop the hillock, the visitors can enrich themselves spiritually too.
As per the initial plan the forest department’s ecotourism proposal focuses on the Suvarnagiri range of Kappatagudda sanctuary. The forest department is planning to make three sections. In the first section, there will be the entrance, information centre, trekking routes, gold tourism, viewpoint and others.
In the second section, there will be fauna, information centre, a medicinal plants garden, digital exhibition and details of traditional doctors in the Kappatagudda region. In the third section, there will be facilities for nature camps, accommodation facilities, a bamboo tower with five floors for stargazing deep inside the thick forest.
The department is now checking the possibilities of making the tour exciting and, if all goes well, this place will be India’s first spot where a defunct mining site is turned into a tourist attraction.
Girish Hulmani, a software engineer from Bengaluru, said, “We are from Kanvi and have seen the caves. It would be nice if the place would be converted into a tourist spot. It would be unique because going inside caves, watching the old methods of gold extraction, mining and lifting and railway lines and much more equipment.
Many people dismiss India as backward country but they should see our legacy dating back 125 years. Then they will come to know how rich our heritage is. The abandoned caves tourism will also boost business and job opportunities for locals”.
Range Forest Officer Manjunath Megalamani said, “We are coming up with many innovative ideas and soon we will have a separate website and a mobile application on Kappatagudda to guide the tourists.” Deputy Conservator of Forests Santoshkumar said, “Some projects at Kappatagudda are in the phase of detailed project report (DPR) and tourists will soon get all the facilities at Kappatagudda”.
NOT ONLY GOLD, DIAMONDS TOO
At the time when the mines were abandoned there were still gold deposits. Earlier reports also speak about these caves and surrounding areas having diamonds till the 1960s. An elderly person in Hosur said that his father had seen diamond mining activity in some parts and later it was stopped due to the limited deposits in these regions.
“The village has at least six such caves, of which two are open. The cave that is located just outside the village is 500-m- long and stretches underground on both sides.
The mouth of the cave has a steep incline which leads to a platform between the walls of the old mine. A dark and deep round pit of 30m lies ahead, after which the tunnel takes a turn towards the left. The mining caves had other openings too but due to poor maintenance many of the caves have now been shut. It would be nice if they would be cleaned and allow tourists to enter inside,” the villagers told The New Sunday Express.