Highway stretch spells death knell

Over 100 animals have been mowed down by the vehicles in the past four years on the 17-kilometre stretch on the National Highway 212 stretch, which runs through the Bandipur National Park and the Tiger Reserve.

The animals include those mentioned in the Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. A recent victim of this reckless driving was a spotted deer, who got run over on Wednesday.

Environmentalists, wildlife conservationists, forest officials and many other activists have petitioned many times to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to curb rash driving by putting up speed breakers and other restraints, but no action has been taken so far. The list of dead animals in four years include six elephants, two tigers, two leopards and over 20 spotted deers.
The activists put pressure on the forest department, which has  issued notices to NHAI to construct road humps and take up other measures to bring down reckless driving.

The road connects Mysore with Kozhikode in Kerala and a group of activists in Wayanad wildlife sanctuary which shares the same highway on Kerala side have followed suit. An equal number of wild animals have died on the same highway on the Wayanad sanctuary side.

Conservator of forests Kumar Pushkar, who also is the Director of Bandipur Tiger Reserve, said there were mandatory and cautionary signboards put up by the NHAI, but those do not serve any purpose as the drivers show scant regards. He felt it was better to erect rumblers and humps to curb speeding.
The Karnataka State Highways Improvement Project (KSHIP) was basically at fault as it did not carry out the recommendations and guidance of the Forest department, forest officials said.

Conservation biologist Sanjay Gubbi, told DNA, "During  infrastructure development, it is extremely important to ensure that it is in tune with wildlife conservation. It is particularly important when such highways pass through national parks, wildlife sanctuaries or important wildlife corridors. We urgently need a comprehensive policy that is developed in consultation with forest department, road construction authorities and conservation scientists to identify areas where highways need to be avoided.”

There was a Karnataka High Court order directing the NHAI to take all measures to bring down traffic density and speed. The court had also directed the government to ban movement of vehicles between 8pm and 6am, but the Kerala transport lobby which transports sand, timber and construction material from Mysore to Kerala started taking a short cut through the Bandipur national park risking the lives of wild animals and violating the court order.
Bandipur Tiger Reserve is one of important tiger habitats in the world and very often tigers cross the highway and risk getting mowed down by a speeding truck. Currently, there are 80-85 tigers in the reserve as per the tiger census figures.