Stating that a total ban on vehicle movement during night hours on the stretch between Bannari and Punajanur check-posts would only affect the livelihood of people, traders downed shutters in Talavadi on Thursday. Around 1,500 people gathered near Bannari check-post and expressed their concern over the ban.
Hearing public interest litigation on February 8, the Madras High Court Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy directed the Forest Department to enforce the Erode District Gazette notification dated January 7, 2019 that restricts vehicle movement on the stretch from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Members of political parties, various organisations, traders, transport organisations staged a protest on the road to seek the attention of the government. Speakers said the notification, when implemented in 2019, was a total failure as it caused immense hardship to vehicle users during the day time and the people of the two States. Due to the ban, traders would not be able to transport vegetables from Talavadi and in five districts in Karnataka to the markets in Erode, Mettupalayam and Coimbatore. Students from the hill area may not be able to return home, they added.
“Total ban will in no way prevent accidents and instead alternative plans to protect wild animals should be studied which is the only long term solution,” they added.
Traders in Talavadi closed their shops for the day in support of the protest at Bannari and wanted the ban to be revoked. Over 200 shops, including vegetable mandis, in the hill area were closed while Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation operated buses to the hill area as usual.
At the Punajanur check-post, members from Chamrajanagar district farmers’ and lorry owners’ association staged a road block demanding withdrawal of the ban. They raised slogans and the police removed 15 persons.
