Closing roads through National Parks - Not correct

[Sabyasachi Patra]

My response is in blue.

In Karnataka, two roads have been closed at Night times.
1. The Mysore Mananthavaadi Highway (Kabini) through Nagarhole
2. The road cutting through Bandipur (to Ooty and to Sulthan Bathery).

The solution is not in closing the roads especially in the absence of alternate roads. There has to be a way to curtail speed of vehicles passing through. Also the drivers have to be educated first, warned subsequently and punished severly for repeated violations.

Sabyasachi: I agree that we have to curtail speed of vehicles. Alternate roads will never come up if restrictions are not imposed.

Your suggestion of warning and punishing for repeated violations is not enforceable. If you cancel driving licence of a driver, then he will get it from another district as there is no centralised system. Also, how will you find out whether he is a repeated offender? Educating the drivers is a good idea though, but doesn’t give the desired affect especially since the vehicular traffic disturbs wild animals. I have seen Gaurs and elephants running while crossing the road. They know that road means danger to them and they fear it. We have intruded into their life and are causing irreparable damage.

Closing the road at nites does open up new issues which the authorities do not consider.
Few issues are:
1. Vehicles reach entry points in the evening especially the ones that come early bribe the guards and go thro the park, creating income opportunities for forest guards and officials.

Sabyasachi: It is an enforcement issue and can be easily controlled. And this is not a sufficient reason.

2. Other vehicles all queue up in the nite. The drivers and cleaners all team up to form a club to play cards and booze creating an opportunity at the edge of a protected area, while waiting for the park gate to open in the morning. They also create a market for venison and other forest meat to be served to them while they are spending the nite near the forest.


Sabyasachi: Even now tourists booze on the road inside Bandipur Tiger Reserve. If you think the drivers and cleaners of stranded vehicles create a market for bush meat, then the villagers inside must be doing the same. Since you want the drivers and cleaners to move away from the park, I guess you must be raising your voice for relocation of the villagers as well??

I would say poaching and consumption of forest meat is an enforcement issue. Patrolling has to be intensified.


3. When the gate opens in the morning at 6 am, there is a sudden rush of trucks and vehicles trying to overtake each other. Sometimes the queue of vehicles are so long that the animals cannot use/cross the road for few hours. Large mammals and cats are still active in the mornings. So whats the point in allowing the traffic at 6 am if they cannot be allowed in the nite?

Sabyasachi: In theory there is a possibility of trucks queuing. I haven’t seen long queue of trucks while entering the forest either from the Mudumalai side or from the Nagarhole Kutta side. It may have happened when the night traffic is halted for the first night as the truck drivers won’t be aware. Else, they would prefer to sleep in a village rather than near a forest, as most of the people have a fear of wild animals.

The correct way of doing it is to build speed barriers and constant monitoring and education. The forest officials are incapable of doing these things. The easiest is for them to close the park and inconvenience common man.Closing the highway is against the principles outlined in the Indian Wildlife Protection Act. The Act gives right-of-way to humans on roads cutting through parks.

Sabyasachi: Can you please quote the relevant sections of Indian Wildlife Protection Act to support your claim that it gives right of way to humans?

Speed barriers should be there. Monitoring and Education should also be there. I too find that roads inside the Tiger reserves like Bandipur are well maintained though the 10-12km stretch of road before bandipur is bad. There is no need for good roads inside our forests that encourage high speed driving.

However, the basic premise of closing a road in the night is to create less of disturbance. If we can't create inviolate spaces, atleast give our wildlife some peace in the night. If we allow driving through the forest in the night, then tomorrow you may ask for permissions for tourists to roam around our forests in the night, albeit at a reduced speed. The argument can be tourists should not be inconvenienced.

Recently the government closed the MM Road through kabini between 6PM and 6AM based on complaints and representations filed by NGOs, conservationists etc. Subsequently the CEC and the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India made it an order to close the road in the nite. The orders were based on CEC inspection and facts provided by NGOs and Conservationists on animal deaths on this particular road.

Sabyasachi: That was a good move.

Under RTI, I applied to the PCCF of Karnataka and asked him to provide me with the details of all animal deaths on MM road for the last 10 years. To my surprise I found that the forest department had record for only one death of a spotted deer that too at 10.00 am in the morning!!!

Sabyasachi: If this were true, then the records of the forest department is a joke. All of us know that. We keep on coming across road kills.

All the claims of conservationists that tigers and elephants were found dead on Mysore Mananthavaadi Highway is false. This means that have provided wrong information to the authorities. How come the forest department has no record of any death on this road?

Sabyasachi: We all know that intentionally most of the road kills of big fauna goes unreported. And noboby cares for the roadkills of lesser but equally important animals like civet cats, caracals, jackals, hyenas etc.The forest department should be hauled up for not recording the road kills. This is dereliction of duty.

Also, people with good intentions should question the procedure of recording animal kills and see if they need to strengthen their processes. I am sure the forest department needs some help in developing robust processes.


I have a letter signed by the DCF of the park (nagarhole) and subsequently sent to me by the Chief Wildlife Warden that except a spotted deer, no animal has been killed on that road for the last 10 years.


Sabyasachi: If this is true, then a few officials should be hauled up for dereliction of duty. I am sure if we do enough search, we can find road kills photographed by various photographers.

Protection of wildlife is important. At the same time economic development of society is also important. There has to be a harmonious balance. It cannot be at the cost of one of them.The issue of traffic cutting through bandipur has got nothing to do with night time. Even during the day time the vehicles go very fast. What do you do then?

Sabyasachi: I agree that people drive at high speeds during daytime as well. However two wrongs don’t make it right.

I agree that protection of wildlife and our wilderness is important. Economic development of a few individuals shouldn't be at the cost of the society and humanity as a whole.

These pristine forests are the source of our water resources. Roads are fragmenting these places. The vehicular traffic is also leading to dumping of garbage in these areas leading to spoiling the source of our water resources. A cursory glance at our history books will tell us that civilisations have been wiped out due to lack of water. We have seen the consequence of uninterrupted “development” (read urbanisation) and its impact in places like Bombay (2005), Chennai (2005) to New Orleans (2005) in USA. Has anyone thought of the huge impact in terms of loss of life, and loss of homes, properties, businesses etc running into thousands of crores of rupees?

I have noticed that tourist traffic on bandipur highway often mixes booze and high speeds especially when they cut through forest areas. Even the Jeeps belonging to the DCF, ACF and RFOs do not maintain speed limits in Bandipur, even during day time (I have video recordings of department jeeps plying at high speeds)The truth is our Forest officials and police are incapable of containing these speeds even during the day. Therefore the easiest is to close the road in the night and make it safe for smugglers and poachers to operate peacefully without the fear of getting noticed by some responsible, passing vehicle that may put an end to their activities.

Sabyasachi: You are talking of an enforcement issue. I wish your visual documentation of wrong doings had been sent to the right people. We should complain else things won't change.

Poaching is an enforcement issue. Strengthening the forest department and hauling them up if they are not performing is the way to go for controlling poaching. By smugglers were you referring to forest produce or with contraband or something else?

Do you mean to say vehicular traffic in the night will stop poaching and smuggling? I would say that is a very simplistic assumption.

[Tiger Ramesh]

Mr Patra. Thanks for writing. Obviously you find everything right in closing the road. I find that closing the road is not the only solution. Hence our view points won't meet and i would not try to continue a chain of to and fro reply that may dilute the issue in hand and result in personality clashes.Few points:- Roads do not improve economic opportunities for few individuals but for a whole large population. On what basis do u say that it benefits only a few?? - Section 27.D of WPA gives a common man right of way on a highway cutting through a PA- We cannot shrug of issues by classifying them as "enforcement" issues. If enforcement was the only issue then we have various laws under which we could have provided protection to wildlife without having to close the roads at nite.- By smugglers and poachers i meant people carrying forest produce and not some imported contraband!!!!**** Having said the above, i would encourage constructive exchange of ideas. In this world we can have only view points but cant say thats the only right view

My response is in blue.*** Sabyasachi: You are talking of an enforcement issue. I wish your visual documentation of wrong doings had been sent to the right people. We should complain else things won't change. * * Poaching is an enforcement issue. Strengthening the forest department and hauling them up if they are not performing is the way to go for controlling poaching. By smugglers were you referring to forest produce or with contraband or something else? * * Do you mean to say vehicular traffic in the night will stop poaching and smuggling? I would say that is a very simplistic assumption.