No decision on lifting night traffic ban in Bandipur reserve: HDK

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Friday said the State government has not taken any decision on throwing open the national highway cutting through the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka for night traffic.

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) recently proposed to allow night traffic, claiming that the state government had agreed to give its consent.

"Bandipur issue is already in the Supreme Court...I don't know why this issue is being raised again. Our government has not taken any decision. I don't know why some people are creating controversy," Kumaraswamy told reporters here.

In a letter to the Karnataka chief secretary, MoRTH secretary Y S Malik also proposed building four elevated corridors of one km each.

MoRTH's claim that chief minister Kumaraswamy and PWD minister H D Revanna had consented to its recommendations during a meeting with Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has come as a surprise to wild life conservationists as it is contrary to the stand of successive state governments.

Malik has sought the state's consent to the proposed scheme so that it can be submitted before the Supreme Court.

Following the letter from MoRTH, state chief secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar has sought the forest department's opinion.

A senior forest department official on Thursday told PTI on condition of anonymity: "We have opposed lifting of the night traffic ban...mostly the file is with the chief minister's office."

The Karnataka government is not allowing night traffic on the NH-212 through the forested region, inhabiting wild animals including tiger, leopards and elephants, to prevent their deaths in possible road accidents.

The movement of traffic through the tiger reserve is banned on this stretch from 9 pm to 6 am.