CHENNAI: To protect the environment and ease road congestion affecting locals and visitors, the Madras High Court has set a cap on tourist vehicles entering the hill stations of The Nilgiris and Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu.
A special division bench of Justices N Sathish Kumar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the orders on Thursday.
The bench, in its order, said that a maximum of 6,000 vehicles per day would be allowed into The Nilgiris on weekdays and 8,000 per day on weekends. Similarly, Kodaikanal in Dindigul district would permit 4,000 vehicles per day on weekdays and 6,000 per day on weekends.
The bench said the restrictions will be in force from March to June in the current year, and the arrangement will be reviewed at the end of June.
The court set the limit based on the view of an expert team from IIT-Madras and IISc-Bengaluru, which was tasked with preparing a report on the carrying capacity of these hill stations. The team requires about nine more months to complete the study and submit the report, as they cannot proceed without authentic figures.
“The restrictions will help avert congestion on the roads because the local residents cannot even reach hospitals for emergencies, and the tourists are found stranded on the roads for a long time. Further, the environment can also be saved from the impact of the unbridled flow of tourists,” it said.
The bench, however, exempted the vehicles of local residents, government transport buses, and government vehicles plying on duty from the restrictions.
Directing the district collectors of The Nilgiris and Dindigul to strictly enforce the restrictions by putting in place proper mechanisms for issuing e-passes for tourist vehicles, the bench said priority shall be given to e-vehicles in issuing the e-pass.
It may be recalled that the restrictions on tourist vehicles were brought in by the High Court last summer to account for the number of vehicles entering these two hill stations so that the carrying capacity could be fixed to save them from the impact of the unbridled movement of tourists, some even venturing into deep forests, harming animals, and causing damage to the environment.