The Madras High Court has directed the District Collector, the Nilgiris District to ensure the traffic management for the current season, particularly, consider the stopping of tourists vehicles entering via Kalhatti Ghat Road .
The Division Bench Justices N Sathish Kumar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy heard a matter relating to fixation of carrying capacity in respect of the Nilgiris District and Dindigul District.
On April 22 the High Court recorded that the Government had roped in two institutions . Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai and Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, to take up the study for fixing carrying capacity in the hill stations , the Nilgiris, the Nilgiris District as well as Kodaikanal in Dindigul District.
On April 29 ,a status report was filed by the Government.
The District Collectors of The Nilgiris District as well as Dindigul District, are present in Court through virtual mode. After hearing their views and also upon perusing the status report, the Court noted that a whooping 20011 vehicles are entering the Nilgiris every day, which includes 11509 cars, 1341 vans, 637 buses, 6524 two-wheelers on an average during the peak season.
The Court noted that the situation is alarming. There can be absolutely no place even for movement of traffic and it is affecting everyone, the residents, the tourists, the visitors etc., without exception.
More specifically,
(i) the local residents can not even move even for their regular livelihood including for medical emergency and their very right to life is affected;
(ii) the tourists also cannot reach their destinations and it spoils their very experience;
(iii) the environment is the worst affected.
“The roads are carrying beyond their capacity. It can also be seen that all these routes are meddling/interfering with the elephant corridors. and In view of traffic jams, vehicles are stranded in the roads cutting across forests, the animals are worst affected. It causes irreparable damage to the environment.”
Therefore, the Court ordered that while the study is being undertaken, for the current year, without any restrictions on the number of vehicles entering the hill stations, entry of vehicles can be regulated by granting e-passes. Already, regulating the entry through e-passes was developed and was in vogue during the COVID-19 pandemic in the State. However, at that point of time, entry of vehicles was permitted only if there was a reasonable cause shown.
Now, entry passes can be issued after due filling in of the a form with relevant questions as to
(i) the nature / type of the vehicle whether it is a car, van, bus or two;
(ii) whether the entry is for tourist or other purposes;
(iii) whether it is day trip or a stay;
(iv) the number of persons travelling;
(v) and other relevant particulars.
The system that is user friendly can be developed. The Tourists or any other person visiting the Nilgiris or Kodaikanal, as the case may be, will be able to fill in and an auto generated e-pass can be granted. It can also be doubled up by linking payment gateway portal in respect of Green Tax or Toll Charge if possible. That would also save further time and there need not be bottlenecks at the checkposts.
The Court added that the e-passes can also contain important information, such as, ban of one time use of plastic products like water bottles, polythene bags, etc., and also such other instructions for the tourists so that the solid wastes are properly disposed and managed. Therefore, without imposing any restrictions, by regulating the movement, firstly as a temporary measure/pilot basis, the entire system can be made more efficient and improved besides providing the much needed valuable data for the study which is going to be undertaken by the State of Tamil Nadu through the aforesaid agencies.
As a matter of fact, the Court observed that District Collectors have such powers under Section 115 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 Read with Rule 317 of the Tamil Nadu State Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 which empowers the respective District Collectors, being Regional Transport Authorities, to restrict or regulate the entry of vehicles.
Not only in the teeth of the said provisions, the High Court passed this order more importantly with the important purpose of saving the entire Nilgiris biosphere and for the protection of Western Ghats which is a more serious question.
The High Court noted that human beings alone cannot exist on earth without biodiversity. While the large and entire landscape is available to us, the human beings, a variety of flora and fauna find their existence only in these hill areas and environmentally important zones. “Therefore, it is critical to preserve these pristine places more in the interest of human beings as such.”
It is also brought to the Notice of the Court that, this year, due to extreme drought conditions, even provision of adequate drinking water to the local residents has become a challenge. The shortage is acute.
For all the foregoing reasons, the Court directed the District Collector, the Nilgiris District, as well as the District Collector, Dindigul, as under:-
(i) they shall develop a system / online form so as to enable all the vehicles visiting the Nilgiris or Kodaikanal, as the case may be, to fill in the above particulars and generate an e-pass and will permit only such of those vehicles which have e-passes;
(ii) the possession of such e-passes can be properly checked at the entry points without fail;
(iii) such system can be developed and implemented with effect from 07.05.2024 and shall be in vogue on a pilot / test basis upto 30.06.2024;
(iv) adequate publicity shall be made for the said system informing the general public on the website/ mobile app which are going to be developed;
(v) advertisements can be issued nation-wide and more specifically in the regional newspapers of the neighbouring States , Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh;
(vi) the authorities can exempt the vehicles of the local residents, commercial vehicles regularly carrying essential commodities and also the vehicles carrying agricultural products by issuing an appropriate notification;
(vii) that the e-passes either have to be valid for one entry or if it is for multiple entries then, there must be a provision regarding multiple entries / trips for the same vehicles;
(viii) while developing appropriate software/online form, the authorities can include such other criteria which may be necessary for the purpose of study and or FOR any other purposes;
(ix) the experts engaged by the State Government and Amici Curiae in the matter can also forthwith send their views to the District Collectors intimating as to any particular or facts which need to be included in the forms etc., and the same can also be considered and included;
(x) the appropriate authorities/departments of the Government are directed to render their assistance to the District Administration of the Nilgiris as well as Dindigul District, for developing the software/website, mobile app and online application for issuance of e-pass.
Further the Court directed that the District Collector, the Nilgiris District, shall also ensure the traffic management for the current season, particularly, consider the stopping of tourists vehicles entering via Kalhatti Ghat Road because it is stated to be one of the primary reasons for the traffic congestion as well as detrimental to the Environment. The District Collector, the Nilgiris District, shall however exempt the vehicles of the local residents.
From the status report which is filed on behalf of the Solid Waste Management units, the Court noted that there is no specific data with regard to the glass bottles, etc., are available. The status report only generally points out the waste which is sent to cement factories, saleable waste, E-waste hazardous waste, etc.
In August last year , the Top Court decided to set up a panel to study environmental and ecological concerns in ‘overcrowded’ hill stations across Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and other Himalayan states. In the matter the Union has urged the Supreme Court to direct 13 Himalayan states of the country to assess their carrying capacity and proposed setting up of an expert panel to evaluate the action plans submitted by each of them.Carrying capacity is the maximum population size that an ecosystem can carry without getting degenerate.