proposal in the 2012-13 budget to set up an integrated check-post complex at Kallur at an estimate of Rs.5 crore on the Kozhikode-Mysuru National Highway 212 in Wayanad district is yet to take off.
There are check-posts of the Animal Husbandry, Commercial Taxes, Excise, Forest, and Transport Departments inside the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) at Muthanga and Thakarappadi near the Kerala-Karnataka border.
More than 2,000 vehicles, including over a 1,000 trucks, pass through the check-posts a day. Apart from traffic congestion on the national highway, long queues of goods carriers from the other States pose a threat to the free movement of wildlife.
Moreover, wild animals such as elephants, spotted deer, and monkeys are seen feeding on plastic wastes thrown out from the vehicles. “The three check-posts at Thakarappadi are close to two elephant corridors inside the sanctuary,” N. Badhusha, president, Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samiti said.
He said elephants moved from adjacent sanctuaries to the WWLS with the advent of summer. Mr. Badhusha said the Noogu river parallel to the highway was the sole source of water for the animals and they could not move freely through the corridor owing to the long queue of vehicles.
Many a time travellers were also forced to stay inside the vehicle in the sanctuary as entry of vehicles was not permitted on the Bandipur Tiger Reserve stretch of the highway from 9.p.m. to 6 a.m., K.Sathyan, a merchant at Muthanga said.
If the proposed check-post complex started functioning, all the five check-posts would come under a roof and help people save time, he added.
In November 2008, former Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac announced that the government would set up an integrated check-post complex, like the one at Walayar in Palakkad, at Kallur with facilities such as weighing machines, scanners, rest house, canteen, yard, and a commercial complex, Mr.Sathyan, said.
Long queues of goods carriers pose a threat to the free movement of wildlife in the WWS
Published - August 12, 2015 12:00 am IST
