A delegation led by Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran will meet Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa soon to discuss the issue of traffic through Bandipur Tiger Reserve on the NH 766.
This was decided after an all-party group, including elected representatives, met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan earlier to sort out the issue against the backdrop of the Supreme Court order refusing to lift the ban through the forest from 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.
“The State government has already sought an appointment with the Karnartaka Chief Minister. We are awaiting a response from his office,” Mr. Saseendarn told The Hindu on Thursday.
Now, the Minister said the situation had become complex after the Supreme Court came up with a suggestion to close the carriageway through the Bandipur Tiger Reserve. And, instead upgrade the alternative route passing through Kutta-Gonikuppa into National Highway standards.
“Already the decade-old ban on night traffic has affected lakhs of people of Wayanad, Kozhikode, and Malappuram districts. Certainly, the suggestion of the Supreme Court will involve more complications,” Mr. Saseendran said.
Affidavit
The issue will come up at the Supreme Court on October 4. So any decision favourable to Kerala should emerge at least after the meeting with the Karnataka Chief Minister. In fact, the apex court had asked the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in consultation with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to file an affidavit on related matters.
How things will pan out depends on the collective decision of Kerala and Karnataka governments and the response of the Centre as the Central Empowered Committee appointed by the Supreme Court had earlier proposed the construction of five elevated sections of one-km stretch on the highway.
Then Kerala had suggested that the government would share the cost approximately ₹500 crore of the construction of the elevated bridges proposed in both Bandipur as well as in Wayanad. Of this, four will be in Bandipur.
Besides, a contention had also cropped up between the two Ministries on the issue. The MoEFCC has not concurred with the project for an elevated five-km road over Bandipur, while MoRTH is willing to go ahead with the project.
