If the national highway from Gundlupet in Karnataka to Sultan Bathery in Kerala were to be opened to night traffic, it could prove catastrophic to the wildlife in the Sigur plateau and in the Nilgiris, as the road would pass through the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, conservationists have warned.
The 34.6-km stretch that skirts the Nilgiris district, through Kerala and Karnataka, will be re-designed to mitigate the effect night traffic has on wildlife. Underpasses will be created to allow wildlife to get across unhindered between different sections of the “most crucial landscape, hosting the world’s largest population of elephants and tigers,” an environmentalist said.
However, the proposed fencing along many sections of the road will lead to fragmentation of the elephant and tiger populations in the region, hugely affecting not only the biodiversity of Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary and the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, but also the wildlife throughout the entire region, including the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. The fencing will cut off access for the animals from one forest region to the other.
Jean-Philippe Puyravaud, an ecologist from the Sigur Nature Trust, who lives in the Sigur plateau, said the proposal to open up the stretch to night traffic would prove catastrophic to the elephants and tigers in the region.
Highest density
“The region has the highest population of Asiatic elephants, estimated between 6,000 and 10,000, and also around 600 tigers. The road will divide the population of tigers and elephants, thus greatly reducing the evolutionary potential of these populations,” Mr. Puyravaud said. “This is the most important, and last remaining place anywhere on earth where the forests are contiguous for two iconic species of wildlife to thrive in, and there needs to be a groundswell of opposition to the proposal,” he added.
N. Mohanraj, an environmentalist from the Nilgiris, said as wildlife would become hemmed in to different parts of what are currently contiguous forest ranges in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR) in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the chances for an increase in human-animal conflicts are high.
“For instance, if elephants from Mudumalai are unable to make their way across into Bandipur and into Wayanad, there is potential for more of them entering human habitations surrounding Mudumalai, like Gudalur. If the proposal gets the green signal, it will have a tremendous impact on wildlife across the region,” he said.
A top forest official from the Nilgiris said the ban on night traffic through the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve would continue.