Centre forms panel to study tunnel road through Wayanad, Bandipur wildlife zones to bypass night traffic ban

Wayanad: The Union Ministry for Road Transport and Highways has constituted an expert committee to study the feasibility of a mega tunnel through the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and Bandipur National Park. The move is expected to bring relief to thousands of students, traders and farmers travelling between Kozhikode in Kerala and Mysuru in Karnataka.

The proposed tunnel will allow both road and rail connectivity. The project aims to ensure smooth travel without disturbing wildlife in the ecologically sensitive region. Senior officials from the Ministry are part of the working group.

At present, night traffic is banned through the Bandipur reserve forests. The ban was imposed on June 3, 2009, by then Chamarajanagar district collector Manoj Kumar Meena. Vehicular movement is prohibited between 8.30 pm and 6 am on the NH 766 (Kollegal–Kozhikode) and NH 67 (Gundlupet–Ooty Road) passing through the Bandipur wildlife sanctuary.

The demand for a tunnel through the reserved forests as a permanent solution to the night traffic ban dates back to the tenure of former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi. The National Highway Action Council has also repeatedly raised the issue. 

Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi wrote to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on October 11, 2025, highlighting the hardships faced by district residents due to the night traffic ban along the Bandipur forest stretch.

She later met Gadkari in person on December 19. During the meeting, the Union Minister assured her that the demands would be considered sympathetically.

According to a communique from the office of the Union Minister to Priyanka Gandhi, an expert committee was earlier constituted to address recurring landslips at the start of the ghat section of National Highway 722 near the Wayanad entry point. The committee comprised retired Additional Director General R K Pandey and Divya P V, Associate Professor at IIT Palakkad.

In its preliminary report submitted on October 3, the committee suggested both long-term measures and urgent solutions to be implemented on a war footing. Directions have already been issued to the State Public Works Department in this regard, the MP said.

Meanwhile, earthworks for widening the sixth, seventh and eighth hairpin bends on the ghat road have begun. The works are expected to be completed by February 2027. Reconstruction of accident-prone stretches has been handed over to the National Highways Authority of India to speed up execution.

The Union Minister has also informed that ₹105 crore has been allocated to the Wayanad constituency from the Central Road Infrastructure Fund. The allocation includes ₹26 crore for the widening of the 10.10-km stretch of the Ghat Road–Adivaram–Nooramthodu road near the fourth hairpin bend.

Earlier, an agency deputed by the Adani Group had conducted a feasibility study on constructing a highway on pillars or a tunnel beneath the wildlife zone. A team from the group had camped in Sulthan Bathery and examined various technical aspects of the proposal. The study was part of efforts linked to strengthening connectivity to the Adani-owned Mysuru airport.