Kerala CM Chandy demands to lift ban on night traffic in Bandipur

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, 15 April 2015: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy met his counterpart Siddaramaiah on April 15, 2015 Wednesday in Bengaluru and demanded lifting of restrictions on night traffic on National Highways 212 (Gundlupet-Sulthan Bathery) and 67 (Gudalur - Gundlupet) which criss-cross the Bandipur Tiger Reserve.

 

The night traffic has been banned on the Gundlupet-Sulthan Bathery stretch due to frequent deaths of animals by speeding vehicles.

It appears Kerala does not want to give up its effort to get the ban on vehicular movement lifted on the two highways connecting Kerala and Tamil Nadu. This is the fifth time Chandy meeting his Karnataka counterpart over the matter.

Siddaramaiah along with his cabinet colleague Dr.H.C.Mahadevappa, B.Ramanath Rai, Mahadeva Prasad and MLA NA Haris welcomed the Kerala delegation led by Chandy. The delegation included Minister for Forest, Environment and Transport Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Tribes and Youth Affairs P K Jayalakshmi, MPs M I Shanavas and M K Raghavan, MLAs I C Balakrishnan and M V Shreyams Kumar, Chief Secretary JiJi Thomson, and secretaries of Transport and Forest departments.

Meanwhile, The Supreme Court has granted the state governments of Kerala and Karnataka six more weeks to file their suggestions on finding a solution to the existing ban on vehicular traffic during night on the Gundlupet-Sulthan Bathery National Highway 212.

The court granted the additional time on the request of Adv Beena Madhavan who is representing the Kerala government.

At the last meeting, some of Siddaramaiah’s party colleagues had tried hard to help Chandy achieve his objective. Interestingly, for Wednesday’s meeting, Kerala is learnt to have informed Karnataka about a Supreme court direction of April 13, 2015 (Monday), which states that the matter should be resolved by both the states by means of discussion.

Chandy’s latest visit to Bengaluru assumes significance as the Congress is in power in both the states.

 With a ban on sand mining and liquor in Kerala, people of that state living close to the tiger reserves of Bandipur and Nagarhole have been frequently visiting Karnataka at the weekends. Sand and liquor are smuggled into Kerala at night through Bandipur as these items are not checked, according to sources in the forest department in Gundlupet in Chamarajanagar district.

Following the High Court order, the Karnataka government has upgraded the Hunsur-Gonikoppa-Kutta-Kartikulam road, an alternative route to Kerala, at a cost of Rs 50 crore. Another road which connects Konanur and Makutta has been upgraded at a cost of Rs 23 crore and is ready for use.

The first meeting was on August 14, 2011, when B S Yeddyurappa was the chief minister. Then, on December 18, 2011, Chandy met the then chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda. The third time he met the then chief minister Jagadish Shettar on January 3, 2013. The fourth meeting was on October 10, 2013, with Siddaramaiah. All the successive chief ministers have refused to intervene, citing Supreme Court directions.