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 Night traffic ban saves many animal lives in Bandipur 


Road kill inside the reserve has dropped by more than 70 pc: Experts

Road kill, which was a regular occurrence inside the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, has trickled down in recent years, owing to night traffic ban.
With two national highways, NH-67 (towards Ooty) and NH-212 (towards Wayanad), passing through the reserve, nocturnal animals were at perennial risk before the ban.
According to Sridharmurthy, retired executive engineer of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), traffic density in both NH-212 and NH-67 was 15,000-18,000 passenger car units during the day, which translated to about 12,000 to 14,000 vehicles plying on the roads on a daily basis.
Speaking about the road kill inside the reserve prior to the ban, wildlife film-makers B S Krupakar and Senani Hegde said that several species of nocturnal animals such as mouse deer and leopards had benefited from the ban.

“A few years ago, the reserve would witness a road kill almost everyday. The major reason being the speed at which the vehicles plied on the highways inside the reserve,” Senani said. Heavy vehicles, which transported vegetables and other commodities during the night were major killers, he added.
“Following the implementation of the night traffic ban, road kill has come down by more than 70 per cent,” he said.  Chief Conservator of Forests and Director of Bandipur Tiger Reserve H C Kantharaju said that following the ban in early 2010, the average number of road kill reported is four to six every year. “Earlier, the combined number of road kill along the two national highways averaged more than 60 every year. During the current year, only five cases of road kill have been reported,” he said.
However, some parties have filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking the Court to lift the ban. Judgement regarding the petition is pending.

On the expansion of NH-212, he said that 18.8 km stretch of the highway, which passes through the reserve will not be expanded. “Expansion of the stretch has been dropped from the project plan of the NHAI, following opposition from environmentalists,” Kantharaju said.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/4288...-many.html

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