The Assembly on Friday passed a resolution demanding the Union government to lift the travel restrictions on National Highway-766 linking Kerala and Karnataka and safeguard the right of the people of north Kerala to move freely.
The resolution, moved by Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran, pointed out that night travel on this main artery passing through the Bandipur National Park had been banned since 2009 in the name of protecting wildlife.
Resolution
“Imposing regulations the likes of which are absent in any of the approximately 50 tiger reserves in the country is anti-people and discriminatory,” the resolution said.
The Union Minister of Environment and Forests had promised Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that a committee would be appointed to examine the concerns raised by Kerala. However, the panel was yet to materialise, it said.
The 9 p.m.-6 a.m. travel ban adds 100 km to journeys undertaken by the people of Bathery taluk of Wayanad to places such as Gundalpet and Mysuru. More than 2,000 labourers from Gundalpet, Nanjangud, and Kollegal work in the plantation and construction sectors in Wayanad, Kozhikode, and Malappuram districts of Kerala, it said.
Important route
The NH-766 is also an important route for the transportation of vegetables, grain and construction materials between the two States.
Wayanad is a district which sits atop four passes, the resolution pointed out.
“The NH 766 is a survival route for the people of Wayanad which lacks rail and connectivity and water routes,” the resolution said.
