The Madras High Court on Thursday made a minor modification to an order passed by it on February 8 directing the Forest Department to implement a January 7, 2019 Erode district gazette notification banning night traffic on a highway stretch that passes through the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve.
Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy permitted vehicles for medical emergencies alone to pass through the stretch during night hours. They also ordered installation of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras at the entry as well as the exit points of the stretch.
The judges further directed Additional Advocate General J. Ravindran to find out whether power supply would be available to install CCTV cameras every 5 km. They said that further modifications in the interests of the local residents, agriculturalists and others would be done on Monday.
Shocked to see photographs of overloaded trucks passing through the stretch, the judges ordered that the government officials concerned to explain by Monday as to how such trucks were being allowed to ply on the narrow highway thereby causing hindrance to other motorists.
Earlier, advocates N.G.R. Prasad and senior counsel A.R.L. Sundaresan highlighted the inconvenience caused to the people due to the ban on night traffic. Mr. Prasad said, children were unable to go to school on time because vehicles pile up overnight and jam the highway by 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. everyday.
The February 8 order was passed on a public interest litigation petition filed by advocate S.P. Chockalingam, who had claimed that many animals had died due to night traffic on the highway. He said that the 2019 district gazette notification had remained on paper without being implemented since the locals were opposed to it.
He pointed out that the Collector had banned movement of all types of motor vehicles from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. in addition to ordering that heavy vehicles not enter the stretch between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.
