The Supreme Court’s directive to study the possibilities of developing an alternative route to the Kozhikode-Kollegal National Highway-766 has not found favour with environmental organisations in Kerala and Karnataka, since the prime candidate is the Mananthavady-Gonikoppal-Mysuru road.
The Coorg Wildlife Society (CWS), which takes up conservation-related issues in Kodagu district, aired its concern at the court’s observations to study the feasibility of an alternative road so as to decommission the existing NH-766, which cuts through Bandipur.
C.P. Muthanna, former president, CWS, said upgrading the Mananthavady-Gonikoppal-Mysuru road entails widening of the stretch through hill sections, posing danger to local people. “Heavy rain in August 2018 and 2019 showed that road construction along hilly areas is a major reason for landslips,” said Mr. Muthanna.
He added that as a result of the night traffic ban along NH-766, the traffic density on the Anechowkur-Gonikoppal-Makuta route had increased.
This had placed immense pressure on wildlife along the northern portion of the Nagarahole National Park, the adjoining Devamachi reserve forest, which is a buffer zone to the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Makuta reserve forest area along the western border of Kodagu on State Highway-91.
N. Badusha, president, Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samiti, said the authorities should maintain the status quo of NH-766, instead of developing the alternative road.
This route also passes through 38 km of forest, including 18 km of the core area of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, a major habitat of tigers and Asiatic elephants, and 20 km stretch of Nagarhole.
‘Trees will be lost’
A recent study of the Kerala Forest Research Institute has found that wildlife roadkills on the alternative road is one of the highest in the country, after the night traffic ban. If the road was further developed, the roadkill would also increase. Moreover, many trees would have to be felled to develop it, he added.
T.M. Rasheed, convener, Nilgiri-Wayanad National Highways and Railway Action Committee, said the alternative road would force people to travel nearly 45 km more to reach Mysuru from Kalpetta.
A study conducted by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) in 2014 suggested that a bypass from Sulthan Bathery to Begur in Karnataka through Valluvadi in Kerala and Chikkibergi in Karnataka would be the most convenient alternative route to connect Karnataka and Wayanad as its stretch through the forest would be only 9 km long. Hence the government should develop the road, it had said.
