The Nilgiri-Wayanad NH and Railway Action Committee has sought the intervention of the political leadership in the wake of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) beginning 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.
“If the political leadership, which had led a people’s agitation at Sulthan Bathery two years ago against the alternative route and the night traffic ban, failed to suggest pragmatic suggestions against the DPR, the stretch of the NH 766 from Kalpetta to Mysore, the lifeline of the district, will vanish from the route map of the country”, T.M. Rasheed, convener of the committee, said.
The agitation was called off after the political leaders assured that they would oppose any move to build an alternative route through Kutta and Gonikoppal in Karnataka, Mr. Rasheed said.
The alternative route would increase the time of journey to Mysuru from Kozhikode by more than two hours. A quick intervention by political leaders was the need of the hour to find a pragmatic solution to the issue after consultations with the State and Central governments before the final verdict of the Supreme Court on the issue.
When all the attempts to find a solution to the night traffic ban on the Bandipur route failed, the Supreme Court had suggested an alternative route.
The court also issued a directive to close the NH through the Bandipur Tiger Reserve after opening an alternative route through Kutta–Gonikoppal. It was suspected that the State government had declined to put forward other possible solutions under the influence of a lobby, he alleged.
Now, the NHAI was preparing the DPR and the route had been included in the Bharatmala project.
However, the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) had submitted a proposal to the State government to construct Sulthan Bathery-Valluvadi-Chikkibargi bypass as the alternative route. It would also help to reduce the length of the NH by 20 km.
The political leadership should convince the State government and the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry of the significance of the route. The government should bring the route to the attention of the court and request the NHAI to prepare a DPR for it with the consent of the court.
If the NH 766 through Bandipur was closed without building a viable alternative route, it would lead Wayanad district to a disaster, Mr .Rasheed warned.
