Rahul to join protesters against highway ban
- 01 Oct 2019
AM Abdussalam
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who represents Wayanad constituency in the parliament, announced his support to the ongoing campaign against night traffic ban on NH-766 stretch cutting through the Bandipur Tiger Reserve.
In a tweet on Sunday, Rahul Gandhi drew the attention of authorities that the daily nine-hour traffic ban has adversely affected the lives of people in Kerala and Karnataka. “I stand in solidarity with the youth on an indefinite hunger strike since September 25th protesting against the daily nine hour traffic ban on NH-766 that has caused immense hardship to lakhs of people in Kerala and Karnataka,” Rahul Gandhi said in the tweet. He urged the Centre and state government to ‘safeguard the interests of local communities, while upholding our collective responsibility to protect our environment’.
According to reports, Rahul Gandhi will visit Wayanad on October 3 to offer his support to strikers. Rahul is expected to arrive in the afternoon and return in the evening.
Political parties, youth organizations, traders and other activists took to the streets to register their protest against the Supreme Court suggestion in August to completely close the road passing through the forest stretch at night. Five youth organizations have been on indefinite hunger strike at Sultan Bathery from September 25, demanding lifting of the night traffic ban.
The movement of traffic through the tiger reserve is banned on this stretch from 9 pm to 6 am. The ban through the reserve forest was intended to reduce disturbance to wildlife. Vehicles have to halt and wait at two points on the Kerala-Karnataka border, and are allowed to continue their journey after the ban is lifted early in the morning. The ban has been affecting the people of Wayanad, Kozhikode and Malappuram districts.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is scheduled to meet Union Minister for Environment Prakash Javadekar to discuss the night ban on Tuesday. He had proposed an elevated highway through the Bandipur National Park connecting Wayanad in Kerala and Mysore in Karnataka. An all-party delegation will also meet Union ministers on Tuesday.
Kerala government had been insisting that the existing night traffic ban be bypassed on a 25 km stretch of National Highway 212 by cutting through a core part of the forest with an elevated corridor.
