CHENNAI: To save environment and prevent traffic congestion on roads that trouble local residents and visitors, the Madras High Court has fixed a cap on tourist vehicles entering the hill stations of The Nilgiris and Kodaikanal from March to June this year.
A bench of justices N Sathish Kumar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the orders on Thursday. While 6,000 vehicles per day shall be allowed to enter The Nilgiris on weekdays, the cap will be 8,000 per day on weekends. Similarly, 4,000 vehicles per day on weekdays and 6,000 per day on weekends will be allowed to enter Kodaikanal in Dindigul district, the bench said.
The restrictions will be in force from March to June for the current year and the arrangement will be reviewed at the end of June, the bench said.
The court has fixed the limit as the team of experts from IIT-Madras and IISc-Bengaluru, which was tasked to prepare a report on the carrying capacity of these hill stations, sought nine more months to complete the study and submit its report, as the team could not proceed without authentic figures.
“The restrictions will help avert congestion on roads because the local residents were not able to reach hospitals for emergencies and the tourists were found stranded on the roads for a long time. Further, the environment can also be saved from the impact of unbridled flow of tourists,” it said.
The bench, however, exempted the vehicles of local residents, government buses, government vehicles plying on duty, and vehicles carrying agricultural produce from the restrictions. Directing the district collectors of The Nilgiris and Dindigul to strictly enforce the restrictions by putting in place proper mechanism for issuing e-pass 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 for the tourist vehicles were brought in by the HC last summer in order to account for the number of vehicles entering these two hill stations so that the carrying capacity can be fixed for saving them from the impact of unbridled movement of tourists, some even venturing into deep forest harming animals and causing damage to the environment.