A 12-hour ban on vehicular movement between Bannari and Dhimbam passing through the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) from 6 pm to 6 am in order to prevent the killing of wild animals in the ghats came into effect on Thursday evening.
The Bannari-Dhimbam section is part of the National Highway 948 connecting Coimbatore with Bengaluru via the STR in Tamil Nadu and Chamrajanagara in Karnataka. While the movement of all heavy commercial vehicles will be banned from 6 pm to 6 am, light commercial vehicles and four-wheelers will not be permitted inside the STR area from 9 pm to 6 am.
The night ban is being imposed on a directive by the Madras High Court to prevent the killing of wild animals which are present in huge numbers in the forests along the scenic route. As the night ban was imposed, traders in the area downed their shutters on Thursday complaining that restrictions on the movement of vehicles will affect their sales.
Farmers’ associations also opposed the move saying that farmers will run into losses as it would become very difficult to transport their goods to several places in Karnataka. P.R. Pandian, President of Tamil Nadu Federation of All Farmers' Association, demanded that the state government should come out with an alternative method to save animals on the ghat.
“Stopping the traffic instead of taking steps to save animals will hurt the farmers. The government should go for a long-term solution,” Pandian said.
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Published 10 February 2022, 14:20 IST