CHENNAI: A division bench of the Madras High Court consisting of justices V Bharathidasan and N Sathish Kumar has suggested blocking of vehicle movement at night on the Bannari-Dhimbam stretch of Bengaluru-Coimbatore National Highway (NH) in order to prevent animal deaths in road accidents.
The officials of both the Centre and State Highways department were directed to explore the possibilities for the night ban. The bench noted that as many as 152 wild animals, including three leopards, were killed in road accidents occurred on NH-958 connecting Bengaluru with Coimbatore passing through Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve Forest during 2012-2021.
It directed counsel for National Highway Authority of India Su Srinivasan to get instructions from authorities on restriction of vehicular movement from 9 pm to 6 am between Bannari and Dhimbam and report it back to the court on the next date of hearing.
The bench also asked an appropriate officer of the National Highway Department and the Secretary of TN Highways Department to appear before the court on February 3. The amicus curiae and the counsels for the petitioners had submitted that a total ban on vehicular movement during night would be the only way to prevent accidents involving wild animals on the said stretch, the judges stated, and felt the implementation of night ban on vehicular movement on the Mysore-Calicut highway can be replicated.
The night ban on vehicular movement was implemented only for a few months on this stretch but it was lifted later, the bench was told.
‘Total ban the only option to prevent accidents’
The amicus curiae and the counsels for the petitioners had submitted that a total ban on vehicular movement during night would be the only way to prevent accidents involving wild animals on the stretch