Vehicular traffic between north Kerala and Bangalore was paralysed on Wednesday in view of the 24-hour long ‘transport strike’ called by the All-party Action Committee here to protest against Karnataka’s ban on night time traffic on routes passing through reserve forest areas. Vehicular movement came to a grinding halt at 6 am in the region, including Wayanad district, where transporters decided to stay off the roads in support of the strike call. Many bus services to Bangalore from here did not operate last night, officials said.
The ban on traffic during night through the Mysore- Mananthawadi-Kalpetta, Mysore-Gundalpetta-Sulthan, Batheri- Kozhikode and Mysore-Gudalloor-Udagamandalam routes in Karnataka has been enforced for ensuring safety of endangered species in the forest areas.
Protesting this, a meeting of the All-Party Action Committee chaired by city mayor M Baskaran on Saturday had given the strike call.
It had also decided to intensify the stir by observing a bandh in Kerala’s Malabar region and seeking support of Tamil Nadu to end the over-a-month-long impasse caused by the traffic ban, affecting movement of public, especially during Onam and Ramadan festivities.
