Vehicular traffic congestion on the Udhagamandalam – Gudalur National Highway in the Nilgiris. File
| Photo Credit: M. Sathyamoorthy
The Madras High Court on Thursday (March 13, 2025) fixed a cap of 6,000 tourist vehicles a day during weekdays and 8,000 vehicles during weekends to the Nilgiris and 4,000 vehicles a day during weekdays and 6,000 during weekends to Kodaikanal during the summer season between April and June this year.
A special Division Bench of Justices N. Sathish Kumar and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy made it clear the cap would not apply to the tourists who visit the hill stations using public transport such as government buses and trains and also to the vehicles of local residents and those which transport essential commodities.
The orders were passed after taking note that only 23,000 tourists could be accommodated in a day (at the 1,035 commercial accommodations with 5,620 rooms apart from 575 licensed homestays) in the Nilgiris and only a much smaller number of tourists could be accommodated in Kodaikanal.
The Bench also ordered that the tourists visiting the hill stations in e-vehicles should be given preference in issuance of e-pass and directed the local bodies concerned to take steps for establishment of enough number of electric charging points at vantage locations for the benefit of the e-vehicle users.
The judges requested Advocate General P.S. Raman to persuade the State government to deploy mini e-buses with transparent bodies to encourage the tourists to park their private motor vehicles on the foothills and undertake the tour to the hill stations in those buses.
The Bench said, ideally, it should become a norm in the future in order to promote quality tourism. They expressed serious concern over the ghat roads being flooded with motor vehicles especially during the tourist season thereby causing great harm to the environment and hardship to local residents.
The judges said, even the tourists do not get to enjoy their travel because of being stuck in the traffic jam for hours together. Most of them end up entering reserve forest areas even during night hours and sleep in their cars or in the open leading to man-animal conflict and commission of forest offences, they lamented.
Taking note of submissions made by amici curiae Chevanan Mohan, Rahul Balaji and M. Santhanaraman regarding the need to impose a strict ban on plastics in the hill stations, the judges directed the authorities concerned to keep a vigil and ensure provision of adequate drinking water dispensers for the benefit of tourists.
The court also stressed upon installation of sufficient number of temporary toilets across the two hill stations during the ensuring tourist season and implementing effective solid waste management system. The judges said, the pristine nature of the hills should not be allowed to be disturbed by unregulated tourist activity.
Published – March 13, 2025 05:10 pm IST