Bengaluru: Senior Forest Department officers from Kerala are meeting their counterparts in Bengaluru today to discuss the opening of night traffic from Mysuru to Kerala via Bandipur. They are also discussing the proposal to construct an underground tunnel on the stretch to facilitate the movement of traffic. The meeting began at 11.30 am at Aranya Bhavan and PCCF Punati Sridhar, Project Tiger Director Manoj Kumar and Bandipur Tiger Reserve Director Ambadi Madhav and APCCF Ajay Mishra are representing Karnataka. The names of the Forest officers from Kerala, are, however, not available.
It may be mentioned here that the Centre, in the Supreme Court, has submitted that an underground tunnel will be constructed to connect Mysuru and Kerala via the Bandipur Tiger Reserve. The submission was made some days ago by the Attorney General. Since 2009, Kerala has been demanding Karnataka to lift the night ban imposed on the entry and exit of vehicles via the Tiger Reserve from 9 pm to 6 am. In view of the night traffic ban, the Centre has decided to find an alternative and has decided on the tunnel that will connect Karnataka and Kerala without disturbing the flora and fauna.
