Rahul Gandhi meets Kerala CM in Delhi on night traffic ban on NH through Tiger Reserve
Thiruvananthapuram: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in New Delhi on Tuesday and apprised him of the hardships faced by people of Wayanad due to the night traffic ban on the national highway passing through Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka.
Gandhi, who is the Wayanad MP, met Vijayan at Kerala House and held discussions for about 20 minutes.
Later, talking to reporters, Gandhi said he had taken up the issue of night travel ban and the agitation by youngsters on the matter with the Chief Minister.
Vijayan had assured him that they would be holding talks with the Centre on the matter and were trying to resolve it. He noted that the issue was causing lot of pain to wayanad and Kerala.
"This is a very important matter and it needs to be tackled. The Chief Minister assured us that they are apprised of the situation and are trying to resolve it," he said.
The devastation caused due to the recent landslides in Wayanad during the heavy rains and the matters relating to compensation to the affected people were also discussed, he added.
Vijayan is expected to hold talks with various Union ministers on the night traffic ban.
Meanwhile, the indefinite relay fast by the activists of the samara samithi, who are members of various youth organisations, entered the seventh day on Tuesday.
Students are expected to take out a march on Tuesday.
Around 1,000 farmers and local people, including women, participated in the march from nearby Sultan Bathery to the Kerala-Karnataka border at Moolahalli demanding round the clock connectivity through the forest stretch of NH-766.
The Chief Minister is likely to take up the issue with Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadakar and Transport minister, Nitin Gadkari.
Gandhi is visiting his constituency on October 3 to express solidarity with the protest, Congress sources said.
Expressing solidarity with the fasting youth, the Congress MP had on Sunday said the traffic ban has caused hardship to lakhs of people in Kerala and Karnataka and asked the central and state governments to safeguard the interests of local communities, while protecting the environment.
The movement of traffic through the tiger reserve is banned from 9 pm to 6 am to reduce disturbance to wildlife. Vijayan had suggested that construction of elevated stretch through the core critical tiger habitat.
However, Javadekar, in a letter to Vijayan this month, had stated that the state's recommendations had been discused at the committee of Secretaries and it was recommeded to maintain status quo on restriction of night time traffic through Bandipur Tiger reserve and strengthen the alternative route already available for night time traffic.
The minister also stated that the alternative route, though passing through forest area, was not a 'Critical Tiger Habitat' and can be suitably mitigated.
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Power struggle in ruling Cong has 'created massive confusion' in Karnataka: BJP leader Ashoka
Bengaluru (PTI): BJP leader R Ashoka on Friday claimed that the ongoing power struggle between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar has created massive confusion in Karnataka.
He remarked that the proverb “when two people fight, the third one benefits” has come true, as AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge is also now making efforts to become Chief Minister.
Speaking to reporters here, Ashoka said the entire government has turned into a house of confusion due to the alleged power tussle.
Kharge’s new statement has only added to the chaos, he said.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had on Friday said that no date has been fixed yet to discuss possible leadership change in Karnataka.
This came a day after Kharge said there was no change of CM in Karnataka "for now" and that the leadership issue in the state would be resolved soon.
The BJP leader said that Kharge too has aspirations and that he was cheated earlier.
"Perhaps he has received a green signal from the Congress high command to become CM. Everyone is already saying Kharge should become CM. Kharge himself has declared, “I am ready to become CM.” Despite many attempts in the past, he never became CM. Now he is trying to seize the opportunity," the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly said.
According to him, the situation in Congress has perfectly become a case of “two people fighting, third one benefits.”
