Daijiworld Media Network - Chamarajanagar (MS)

Chamarajanagar, Sep 26: A voluntary bandh is being held in the Wayanad constituency of Kerala urging the Karnataka government to remove the prohibition of night travel through Bandipur forest.

Night travel of vehicles is prohibited by the Karnataka government to Kerala, through Bandipur of Gundlupet taluk. Because of this a voluntary protest is called in Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency of Kerala, which is represented by Rahul Gandhi in the parliament.

Traffic is completely stalled on NH 766 in the wake of the protest. Vehicles have lined up for several miles from Bandipur-Maddur check post. The vehicle movement in the night was prohibited by the Karnataka government as many animals dwelling in the forest get killed as they try to cross the road in the night.

The district administration of Chamarajanagar had taken out an order in 2009 prohibiting vehicular movement on national highway 212 and 69 from 9 pm to 6 am to reduce the death of animals which are near extinction like tiger, elephant and jungle bison. The Karnataka high court had upheld the order of the district administration of Chamarajanagar in 2010 of prohibiting the movement of vehicular traffic.

This order was challenged in the Kerala Supreme Court. The inquiry of the same is in progress. Kerala government had requested the Karnataka government to take back the order of prohibiting vehicle movement at Bandipur in the night. But the Karnataka government did not budge to the pressure of the powerful Kerala lobby.

The supreme court had directed to form a committee of chief secretary of the union transport ministry, representatives of the national tiger conservation authority and officers of the transport ministries of the states of Tamilnadu, Kerala and Karnataka to study the issue.

All the four committees that were constituted earlier did not agree for the revoking of the ban of night travel. Even when Siddaramiah was the chief minister, he did not agree to lift the ban. The Kerala government had taken up the issue with former CM Kumaraswamy also.

Before introducing the ban on night traffic in the Bandipur wildlife sanctuary area 86 animals were killed in accidents. However, after introducing the ban, in the period of 2010-18 only 17 animals have died. This clearly indicates that night traffic ban needs to stay as per the opinion of the animal lovers.