Gudalur strike over tiger attacks to disrupt Ooty travel from northern Kerala
A 48-hour hartal begins midnight in Gudalur protesting the Forest Department's delay in capturing a man-eating tiger, impacting tourist routes and causing road blockades.
A 48-hour hartal begins midnight in Gudalur protesting the Forest Department's delay in capturing a man-eating tiger, impacting tourist routes and causing road blockades.
A 48-hour hartal begins midnight in Gudalur protesting the Forest Department's delay in capturing a man-eating tiger, impacting tourist routes and causing road blockades.
Gudalur: A 48-hour hartal called by an all-party action council to protest the Forest Department’s delay in resolving the issue of a man-eating tiger terrorising the O’Valley area will begin at midnight, according to a statement issued by the council on Wednesday. The hartal is expected to affect tourists travelling to Ooty through Gudalur from Kerala’s northern districts, the organisers said.
All political parties in the region, including the ruling front led by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and the opposition front led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), have extended their support to the hartal, along with other constituents of the two fronts.
The action council said all major inter-state roads connecting Gudalur and Pandalur with neighbouring Kerala and Karnataka would be blocked from midnight as part of the agitation. These include the Gudalur–Gundlupet road connecting the region with Mysuru; the Pattavayal–Sulthan Bathery, Vaduvanchal–Cherambadi and Thaloor–Cherambadi routes bordering Wayanad district; and the Nadukani Ghat Road linking Gudalur with Malappuram and Thrissur districts.
Traffic on other major roads in Gudalur and Pandalur taluks is also expected to be disrupted.
Essential services, including milk supplies, hospitals and the media, will be exempt from the hartal, they said.
The latest agitation follows the killing of Ravichandran, 54, a farmer from O’Valley, who was attacked and killed by a tiger near his home on Friday. The incident came just days after another farmer, Balakrishnan, 58, was killed in a suspected tiger attack in the same area on the night of August 8. His body was recovered the following morning from an abandoned coffee plantation.
Although Forest Department officials had assured local residents that efforts would be intensified to capture the animal or, if necessary, eliminate it, protesters said no tangible results had been achieved so far.
The delay has heightened fear and anger among residents, particularly those living and working in forest-fringe areas.