The increase in vehicle movement on national highway 67 cutting across Bandipur National Park, and the growing popularity of the park, will have a negative impact on wildlife unless efforts are made to regulate tourism.
Though the ban on movement of vehicles through Bandipur from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. has helped reduce human disturbance in wildlife area, the number of vehicles during daytime has increased over the years.
While about 20 km of NH 67 connecting Gundlupet in Karnataka with Ooty in Tamil Nadu passes through the core forest area, about 14 km of NH 212 connecting Gundlupet with Wayanad in Kerala passes though the national park.
D. Rajkumar of Wildlife Conservation Foundation told The Hindu that a 2008 survey indicated that one vehicle would pass through the national park every minute. But the number of vehicles has increased significantly since then and one vehicle passes through the park every 41 seconds. “At this rate, the figure will increase to two vehicles per minute very soon,” he said.
A majority of them are private vehicles from Bangalore and Mysore heading towards Ooty.
The ban on vehicle movement during night has reduced the death rate of animals from the average of four per month to two in the last six months, Dr. Rajkumar said.
But he expressed concern that the habitat could be affected owing to the pollution from the proposed widening of NH 212 cutting through Bandipur. “A wider road could add to vehicle density inside the national park,” he said.
Meanwhile, there is a growing perception among wildlife activists that there was a need to regulate tourists visiting the national park.
A Forest Department official said the accommodation facility at Bandipur is usually booked weeks in advance. But there are nearly nine resorts on the periphery of the national park. Besides, most tourists come directly from Mysore and hence there is chaos during safari.
The geographical location of Bandipur which is midway between Mysore and Ooty, online booking of forest guesthouse and safari, and the tendency to consider Bandipur as a pit-stop by tourists heading towards Ooty, lead to the disproportionate crowd at Bandipur, Dr. Rajkumar said.
Promoting Nagarahole, BRT Sanctuary and M.M. Hills Sanctuary among tourists could help reduce the crowd at Bandipur, he suggested.
