Bengaluru: An ongoing viability survey in Kerala’s Wayanad for a multi-mode tunnel under the ecologically sensitive Bandipur National Park has raised hope of a possible solution to a nearly two-decade-old problem: a night traffic ban on a about a 20-km stretch of the National Highway 766 (formerly NH-212).
The ban has impacted trade, free movement of people and goods, and access to medical care, largely affecting people on the Kerala side of the national tiger reserve. The survey has been commissioned by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
The Bandipur National Park covers an area of over 870 square km, primarily within the Chamarajanagar district at the southern tip of Karnataka. The 57-km road between Sulthan Bathery of Wayanad and Gundlupet of Chamarajanagar includes around a 20-km stretch through the reserve forest.
The Karnataka government imposed the 9pm-6am ban on the movement of private vehicles through the forested portion of the highway, citing reasons such as the fragile ecosystem, human-animal conflicts, and accidents involving wildlife.
There have been demands to lift the ban from the Kerala side. The Bandipur National Park is one large stretch of forest, and is called the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary on the Kerala side of the border.
“There is a meeting likely to be scheduled soon with representatives from all political parties to discuss the issue. There are existing movements by youngsters and other forums that have been constantly advocated for a solution,” Shamshad, a member of the National Highway and Railways Action Committee, told ThePrint.
With the Congress eyeing a return to power after nearly a decade in Kerala in assembly polls likely in April, the issue has gained traction, and is likely to turn into a campaign point for constituencies like Sulthan Bathery, Kalpetta and other places.
These areas primarily depend on the Karnataka side for trade, education, medical emergencies and employment.
Wayanad does not have medical facilities with speciality, and residents either have to carry patients to the Karnataka side, or risk a long travel route down the Thamarassery Churam or Ghats—a 71-km journey that takes well over two hours and is prone to traffic jams—to Kozhikode.
With a high-profile Member of Parliament in Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and a Congress government in Karnataka, the hope of finding a solution appears brighter than it has been in the last 15-20 years, people ThePrint spoke to say.
Priyanka, in fact, wrote a letter to Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari in October last year on the matter.
Asked if the letter would bear any fruit, I.C.Balakrishnan, the Kerala Congress MLA from Sulthan Bathery, responded with an emphatic yes.
“If the central government survey takes place, we have hopes that there will be an effective and sustainable solution to the problem,” he told ThePrint.
On December 19, Priyanka met Gadkari in Delhi. In a post on X, she said she raised “issues concerning my constituency”, but she did not mention the “issues” she raised.
“He was kind enough to hear my concerns and get an update from the relevant officers. I sincerely hope these pressing issues which directly affect people’s safety and daily lives, will receive the attention and urgency they deserve,” she said in her post.
Met respected Shri @nitin_gadkari to raise issues concerning my constituency, Wayanad, and urged that pending works be expedited without further delay.
He was kind enough to hear my concerns and get an update from the relevant officers.
I sincerely hope these pressing issues… pic.twitter.com/UkxnXP6gxn
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) December 19, 2025
On January 28, Gadkari responded through a letter to Priyanka’s office, stating the issue has been long-standing and the ministry will set up a joint working group to study it in entirety, according to Priyanka Gandhi’s office.
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‘Will react after expert panel report’
Since the ban was imposed in 2009, there have been multiple attempts by the Kerala government to convince Karnataka to overturn it. There have been attempts to widen the road, build a flyover and several other proposals, all of which have been vehemently opposed by successive governments in Karnataka.
The issue is currently being heard in the Supreme Court, with the multiple stakeholders, including the Kerala government, trying all it can to arrive at a solution that all sides can accept.
But there are multiple stakeholders apart from the two governments. There are environmentalists on either side, with some sections opposing any relaxation in the restrictions, and while some suggesting sustainable solutions like regulated and limited traffic movement with a pilot and escort vehicles.
The Bandipur National Park has the second highest tiger population in India, it is the highest habitat for wild elephants in Asia and is home to leopards, dholes, sambars, sloth bears, chital and nearly 250 species of birds among other flora and fauna.
The Nugu river, used as a source of water by the wild animals in the forest, runs alongside the existing highway, adding to the complications, experts say.
“In 2019, the issue went to court and at the time there was a proposal for an elevated road. An expert committee gave its opinion but this was shot down due to protests in Karnataka. Now there is a proposal for a tunnel and once an expert committee gives its opinion, is when Karnataka will react to it,” according to the office of Eshwar Khandre, Karnataka’s minister for forests.
In February 2024, the Siddaramaiah government rushed to give Rs 15 lakh to an elephant victim in Wayanad, justifying it by saying the animal was from Karnataka.
The move was criticised by all quarters in Karnataka, but it raised hope that the Karnataka government would agree to a solution if any of the Gandhis insisted.
Inter-state disputes, particularly over rivers, land and language, often become non-negotiable political red lines. Between 2019-2023, the BJP was in power in Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and at the centre, but was unable to resolve the Mahadayi (Mandovi) river dispute.
Similarly, the Siddaramaiah government has failed to persuade its Congress ally, the M.K. Stalin-led DMK, to back the proposed Mekedatu reservoir.
‘Hope higher this time’
There have been proposals to improve and widen an alternative route through Gonikoppal and Kutta in Kodagu district. Apart from it being a much longer route, environmentalists in Karnataka have opposed any efforts to widen the roads since Kodagu also has a fragile ecosystem, and it would also cause losses of Coffee-growing estates.
K.M.Rasheed, an advocate well versed in the legal entanglements of the case, said that the Karnataka side has constantly shot down any suggestion of opening the roads.
“Tunnels are a viable solution as it will not hamper the environment, no noise pollution and there won’t be any problems with wildlife crossings,” he said.
But several people say that the issue is taken up only by those living in the Wayanad region, making it an isolated struggle.
“Anytime there are elections, everyone talks about it but the Kerala government cannot alone resolve this. The hope that a Congress government in both Karnataka and Kerala would help the issue is without basis,” said Sreejith Shivaraman, a Wayanad-based political analyst and faculty at St Mary’s college in Sulthan Bathery.
He argues that there was a brief time when the Congress was in power in both states and the Centre, but the issue could not be resolved.
He added that there are Congress-sponsored think tanks who have started campaigns on the issue. “For the last couple of terms, Wayanad has been represented by Rahul Gandhi and then Priyanka Gandhi. There is definitely more hope this time,” he added.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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