Officials gear up to enforce banning vehicle movement between Bannari and Hasanur during night hours

With the Madras High Court directing the Forest Department to implement the Erode District Collector’s 2019 notification banning vehicle movement between Bannari and Hasanur check posts during night h

With the Madras High Court directing the Forest Department to implement the Erode District Collector’s 2019 notification banning vehicle movement between Bannari and Hasanur check posts during night hours from February 10, officials are gearing up to enforce the notification.

Notification No. 18425/2017 (C-2) dated January 7, 2019 bans movement of heavy commercial vehicles from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and light commercial vehicles and four-wheelers transporting passengers from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. on the stretch of the Coimbatore – Bengaluru National Highway 948 that passes through the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR). Also, the notification paves way for collecting toll from vehicles using the Dhimbam Ghat Road that has 27 hairpin bends.

Hearing public interest litigation (PIL) on Tuesday, the first bench of Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy, directed the authorities to enforce the notification and posted the next date of hearing for February 15.