KOZHIKODE: The need for green corridors for protecting wildlife and at the same time allowing night traffic to move on national highways has got traction with the Supreme Court suggesting alternatives to ban traffic and constituting a committee to submit suggestions.
On Wednesday while considering the petitions on lifting the night traffic ban through NH 212 and NH 67 connecting Kozhikode and Bengaluru, the SC had directed the Union Ministry for Surface Transport and petitioners including various organizations and state governments, to constitute a committee to explore the alternatives for ensuring traffic through national highways sans any disturbance to wildlife.
The bio-corridor is a natural passage for animals to move over or under the highway without hurt. Many developed nations have already successfully implemented the green corridor for animals which ensure safe movement for both animals and humans without disturbing each other. Such biological corridors in the form of elevated highways with under passages, green bridges for wildlife, are in vogue in many countries including Netherlands, Germany, Canada, New Jersey (USA) and Belgium.
N. Badusha, president of Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithy (WPSS), the prominent Green organization in Wayanad, told DC that there were many recent studies regarding the need for such green passages at crucial points across highways. At a time when countless animals were being killed while crossing highways across the nation, such alternatives should be explored, he said, adding that as an organisation,WPSS, was yet to reach a concerted decision on the facility.
“There is no doubt that such alternatives can be on highways where traffic is not banned during night hours,” he pointed out. The Wayanad district panchayat had a plan to mobilise funds for constructing such a biological corridor in Wayanad.
The district panchayat had also set apart Rs 30 lakh for the project for which a proposal also was submitted to the forest department. But due to a lackadaisical attitude by the forest department, the project did not take off.
Nilgiri-Wayanad Railway and National Highway Action Council convener TM Rasheed told DC that the National Highway Authority and the union ministry of forests and environment have been mooting seriously the possibility of such corridors across national highways.
