Vehicular Traffic Set to Rise in Kawal Tiger Reserve
Heavy vehicle drivers who previously used the NH-44 route can now directly access the Kawal Tiger Reserve from Gudihathnoor via Utnoor and Jannaram
ADILABAD: The forest department has officially eased restrictions on the movement of heavy vehicles weighing more than 10 tonnes through the Kawal Tiger Reserve. The new guidelines allow these vehicles to travel from 6 am to 9 pm. On Wednesday, Khanapur MLA Vedma Bojju marked the occasion by traveling through the Kawal Tiger Reserve from the Mancherial side and flagging off the entry of heavy vehicles.
With the relaxation of these regulations, vehicular traffic is expected to increase in the coming days. Heavy vehicle drivers who previously used the NH-44 route to reach Karimnagar, Warangal, and Mancherial via Adilabad, Nirmal, Armoor, and Jagtial can now directly access the Kawal Tiger Reserve from Gudihathnoor via Utnoor and Jannaram. This new route is anticipated to reduce the distance from Mancherial to Adilabad by nearly 150 km compared to the longer alternative.
Similarly, the vehicles' movement is likely to increase through the Kawal Tiger Reserve on the route between Utnoor and Luxettipet, and also between Nirmal and Luxettipet, following the decision to relax restrictions. The heavy vehicles coming from Nanded in Maharashtra can now proceed towards Mancherial, Karimnagar, and Warangal via Nirmal and passing through the Kawal Tiger Reserve. Earlier, the heavy vehicles used to take the Dharmapuri, Jagtial, Raikal Khanapur, and Nirmal route to reach Adilabad from Rayapatnam of Dharmapuri mandal of Jagtial district. Now the heavy vehicles can take the Jannaram, Indhanpalli, Utnoor route to reach Adilabad, or Jannaram, Indhanpalli, Kadam to reach Nirmal town.
MLA Vedma Bojju noted that the prices of essential commodities have risen in the area, and development has stagnated in places like Jannaram within the Khanapur assembly constituency due to the limitations on goods vehicles entering the Kawal Tiger Reserve. He said that with the allowance of heavy vehicles, the development will accelerate, and the local people will benefit greatly in the days to come.
The MLA said the drivers of heavy vehicles, who used to spend nearly `5,000 on diesel on travelling long distances to reach Mancherial, can now save a huge amount. Moreover, it is not a burden for the vehicle drivers to pay a fee of `500 or `1,000 to the forest department for travelling through the Kawal Tiger Reserve, he said. Moreover, the decision will reduce the transportation cost, and business activity will be improved. However, officials of the Kawal Tiger Reserve are also not happy with the government’s decision to relax restrictions on the movement of heavy vehicles and strongly oppose the widening of the road passing through the Kawal Tiger Reserve from Utnoor to Indhanpalli X road. Similarly, conservationists have expressed concern over this decision. They believe that increased vehicle traffic will lead to noise pollution and negatively affect wildlife movement.
Meanwhile, a local leader, on condition of anonymity, said that they have succeeded in their efforts to get relaxation on heavy vehicles passing through the Kawal Tiger Reserve. He further stated that they are also planning to demand that the state government convert the existing two-lane road between Jannaram via Utnoor to Adilabad and Jannaram via Kadam to Nirmal as a four-lane road passing through Kawal Tiger Reserve, linking it to NH-61 and NH-44, for the development of their region. The local people surprisingly stated that there are no movements of tigers
Since its creation in 2012, They said the state government should not discriminate in the development of their area in the name of the Kawal Tiger Reserve. In the past, tigers migrated from Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve of Maharashtra into Kawal Tiger Reserve, but soon they returned to their original habitat in Maharashtra or to Kagaznagar forest division on the state borders, the locals said.
On the other hand, the Telangana forest department is making efforts for the relocation of five tigers into the Kawal Tiger Reserve from the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve of Maharashtra. Telangana’s Chief Wildlife Warden Elusing Meru wrote a letter to the National Tiger Conservation Authority seeking clearance for their initiative. Telangana forest officials claimed that they got a positive response from the authorities of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve.