THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The centre has evinced keen interest in building an elevated corridor between Muthanga–Gundlupet where wild animals encroach affecting night traffic. Top officials of the Union Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF) will inspect the site for the Rs 250-crore, 27-km stret-ch within two weeks. The PWD had submitted a feasibility report of the National Transpor-tation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) in 2016 on the elevated corridor to the state transport department official who gave a presentation before the central officials.
A night travel ban along the Bandipur-Mudumalai and Bandipur-Sultan Bathery road stretches on NH 212 (Gundlupet-Sulthan Bathery Road) and NH 67 (Gundlupet-Ooty Road), both passing through the Bandipur sanctuary, was imposed by Manoj Kumar Meena, Chamarajanagar district collector, on June 3, 2009. The vehicular movement was banned from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for protecting the wildlife from speeding vehicles. A top state transport department official told DC that MoRTH secretary and a National Wildlife Board member will visit the Bandipur National Park and see the 27-km stretch.
“Kerala has only 10 km on the total 27 km stretch between Muthanga – Gundlupet. We need this corridor only on a 5-km radius where wild animals normally encroach. The expected cost for the elevated highway is 250 crore”, said a state transport official. Mr N. M. Salim, Kozhikode-based architect had proposed a “steel elevated corridor” to the then chief minister Oommen Chandy. But the Salim Associates had estimated over Rs 1800 crore, as per government sources. The NATPAC team of scientists visited the spot and said a separate elevated corridor can be constructed for humans’ and animals’ movements.
“Environmental clearance should not be a problem for Kerala as the corridor is for less than 10 km. Land acquisition is also not required as the existing width of the stretch is 12 metres. But we may have to cut trees and prune the branches of the trees,” said a NATPAC official. He also told Deccan Chronicle that Mr Salim’s proposal was for seven metres. But two lanes are not feasible and there should be at least three lanes or else it will create more bottlenecks.
