Traffic disrupted for over two hours as tree falls on National Highway in Idukki

Traffic was disrupted at Aram Mile on the Kochi-Dhanushkodi National Highway on Wednesday for nearly two hours after a tree fell on the road around 6 a.m. According to local people, the traffic was resumed after Fire and Rescue Services personnel removed the tree.

Last week, the Kerala High Court issued an order restricting road-widening works and tree felling on the 14.5-km Neriamangalam-Valara-Adimaly stretch of the Kochi-Dhanushkodi National Highway following a petition filed by Idukki-based environmentalist M.N. Jayachandran.

Dias Pullan, convener of the Idukki Land Freedom Movement, said that the people in the area had formed a National Highway Protection Council to provide immediate assistance in clearing traffic blocks caused by fallen trees and other issues. “Usually when the group comes to know about fallen trees on the road, its members immediately rush to the site to clear the road. But after the court order, they have refused to join the initiative and the traffic on the stretch was disrupted for nearly two hours on Wednesday. People fear that if they remove fallen trees from the area, the Forest department will register cases against them,” said Mr. Pullan.

Idukki Land Freedom Movement general convener Rasak Chooravelil said that in June, following an order issued by the Idukki District Collector, a team comprising the Valara Forest Range Officer and the National Highways Authority of India officials had identified 682 trees and two bamboo groves on the 14.5-km stretch that posed threat to passengers. Around 240 trees on the stretch had already been felled. However, after the High Court order, the tree-felling initiatives faced a hurdle. Repeated incidents of trees falling on the stretch pose a major threat to motorists on the Neriamangalam-Valara stretch,” said Mr. Chooravelil.

Meanwhile, the National Highway Protection Council has decided to take out a long march from the premises of the Aram Mile forest station to the Neriamangalam forest range office on July 31 demanding an end to the “illegal interventions by the Forest department that hinder the widening of the highway.”

According to organisers, various farmers’ groups and people’s movements will join the protest march.