Plea against laying road in forest area

Madurai

: The Madras high court has been asked to give a direction to the Dindigul district administration to forbear it from laying a road from Dolphin’s Nose to Vattakanal village which comes under the wildlife corridor of the Kodaikanal wildlife sanctuary.A division bench of justice

Paresh Upadhyay

and justice

R Vijayakumar

ordered notice to the central and state governments while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by

S Pandi

, a wildlife enthusiast from Theni district.In the petition, the petitioner stated that four alternative routes were surveyed to connect Dolphin’s Nose, a tourist spot to Vattakanal village, however, no further works were carried out. In March 2022, the road work commenced after inspection by the revenue officials.He stated that the route where the road is presently being laid is an important wildlife corridor where Indian gaur and deer would be seen in large numbers. Though the route comes under the eco-sensitive zone, officials from the district administration have not obtained proper permission from the competent authorities for laying the road.The petitioner further stated that the trees in the forest areas are also being cut without proper permission. Laying of road in the route would result in degradation of the green cover. That apart, the road would also expose the animals to vehicular traffic which would ultimately result in the animal deaths due to accidents.Hence, the petitioner moved the HC Madurai bench.
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