Wayanad: The Kerala Government has been blamed for oversight as the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has supported an alternative path as a solution to the ongoing night travel ban through a stretch of the National Highway (NH) 766 passing through Bandipur tiger reserve.

The National Highway and Railway Action Committee, based in Wayanad, is upset after the Ministry in an affidavit filed with the Supreme Court favoured an alternative road via Kutta and Gonikoppal in Kodagu district as a way out of the travel problems faced by the residents of Wayanad district   in Kerala.

The Ministry filed the affidavit saying that State Highway-90 (Hunsur-Talacauvery) and State Highway-89 (Madikeri-Kutta) in Karnataka and Thalassery-Bavali (district road) and Kattikkulam-Tholpetty (district road) in Kerala can be developed as alternatives. A joint committee of experts comprising officials of Ministry of Environment and Forests and National Tiger Conservation Authority suggested these routes.

The Ministry has put the onus on the State Governments of Karnataka and Kerala to develop the State Highways and district roads so that the National Highway running inside the Tiger Reserve is left undisturbed.

The Apex Court had in an earlier hearing given the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate four weeks to file an affidavit. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways was also given an opportunity for the same.  

Though interior roads in Karnataka (Hunsur-Talacauvery and Madikeri-Kutta) have already been developed as State Highways with two lanes, Kerala is yet to develop the district roads Thalassery-Bavali and Kattikkulam-Tholpetty as State Highways with two lanes, the Centre said. 

The Bench of Justices R.F. Nariman and S. Ravindra Bhat gave six weeks’ time to all the parties including Kerala and Karnataka to respond to the proposal by the Centre.

Following the affidavit, the office-bearers of the Action Committee alleged that the Kerala Government did not take up the matter effectively with the Central Government. Moreover, Kerala Government neither launched efforts to compel the Union Environment Ministry to set up a panel to study the issue as the Ministry had earlier promised nor held talks with Karnataka to find a practical solution, the Committee claimed.

It is also pointed out that major lapses on the part of Kerala Government included its failure to present the resolution passed by the Assembly on the issue before the Apex Court and argue against the alternate route. Kerala also did not try to convince the Court of the need to open NH 766 round-the-clock. A meeting of the Action Committee urged the State Government to take up the case earnestly.

Wayanad had recently witnessed a civil campaign against the ban on night traffic along the NH stretch passing through forests in a bid to protect animals. People here are also concerned about the plans to close day traffic also along the route. They have been facing untold misery over the last decade with the curbs on traffic movement at night.