Ban on night traffic at Bandhipur Tiger Reserve may be revoked

OOTY: While the Karnataka government imposed a ban in 2009 on night traffic in Bandhipur Tiger Reserve (BTR) in Karnataka along the Ooty-Mysuru NH to save free ranging wild animals at night, its repercussions were immediately felt in the Nilgiris as the TN government too closed this road that traverses through the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), bordering BTR, for night traffic between 10 pm and 6 am. 

Though this was the order of the day all these years, reports are now appearing in the media in Karnataka that the Centre wrote to the Karnataka government to lift this ban to allow round the clock traffic, widening the road and ensuring adequate mitigation measures.

Saying that the Karnataka government should agree with the Centre to lift the ban on night traffic on this road, Mr.Ganesh (Congress), Ooty MLA, said that, in fact, the night traffic ban on this road along MTR came into existence because the Karnataka government closed this road at night along the BTR.

"This ban is also not absolute because a couple of state run buses from both states and other vehicles on emergency services are still being allowed to ply.  Now, the TN government should take it up with Karnataka to lift the ban to allow traffic, may be with restrictions on speed limits and pressing patrolling teams to monitor traffic and by laying more humps for speed control. The connections between Mysuru, Bengaluru and Nilgiris is a well established one.  

Because of the ban, passengers from both states are forced to travel through Sathy, Salem, Hosur to reach their destinations at night. This is both time and fuel-consuming," he noted.

However, Mr B.K. Kumaran, president of the Nilgiris Ecology and Animals Protection Samithi, wanted the ban to continue. He said that the ban had certainly brought down road kills and kept the jungle environment noise-free and vehicle smoke pollution-free and helped check anti-social elements who try to sneak in to the wooded zones at night.