The Nilgiri-Wayanad NH and Railway Action Committee has urged the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to withdraw from its plan to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for an alternative route to NH-766 to connect Mysuru to Kozhikode via Kutta–Gonikoppal to resolve the issue of the night traffic ban on the Bandipur route.
The alternative route would not be a solution to the night traffic ban, T.M. Rasheed, convener of the action committee, said.
The move of the NHAI was the result of a conspiracy and influence of a vested interest group to divert the route, Mr. Rasheed alleged.
The lobby was trying to sabotage all attempts to find a pragmatic solution to the night traffic ban on Karnataka’s part of the highway, he said. The proposed alternative route would pass through the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and Rajeev Gandhi National Park as well as the highly ecologically fragile areas of Kodagu district in Karnataka, he said.
However, the lobby was gaining favourable ruling by influencing officials and even misleading the Karnataka High Court and Supreme Court by hiding the facts, he said. Hence, the Kerala government should be alert so as to resist the movements of the lobby, he said.
The government should intervene by suggesting construction of overbridges similar to the ones in the Pench National Park in Madhya Pradesh, he said. As the Central and Karnataka governments wanted an alternative route to NH-766, the Kerala government should suggest an alternative road through Sulthan Bathery-Chikkibergy as a practical solution. The State government should direct the NHA to prepare a DPR on the Sulthan Bathery-Chikkibergy route as suggested by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC), he said.
The State should try to convince the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry and Supreme Court of the significance of the route, he said.
