Ooty and Kodaikanal, known respectively as the ‘Queen of Hill Stations’ and the ‘Princess of Hill Stations’, in Tamil Nadu have been choking with traffic for some time now. Heavy and unregulated tourist movement has taken a heavy toll on these hills forcing the Madras High Court and the State government to step in and contemplate certain restrictions.
Nudged by a special Division Bench of Justices N. Sathish Kumar and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy, constituted to hear forest-related cases, the State government has in-principle agreed to control vehicular movement by fixing a ‘carrying capacity’ for the ghat roads after conducting scientific studies through IIT Madras and Anna University.
Advocate General P.S. Raman recently informed the court that the decision was taken at a high-level committee meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena. If the plan fructifies, the government will fix a cap on the number of motor vehicles that will be permitted to ply on the ghat roads every day.
