The Eravikulam National Park in Munnar is facing a major environmental issue due to the influx of unauthorised vendors in the region. The unauthorised vendors at Fifth Mile, which lies at the entrance to the Rajamala, has been creating major traffic issues also, pointed out forest officials.
“There are a lot of illegal vendors occupying space at Fifth Mile along the stretch on the Munnar-Udumalpet state highway. Movement of visitors’ vehicles towards and out of the parking area near the ticketing centre, along with the movement of visitors who park their vehicles by the side of the Udumalpet-Munnar Road makes the road in front of the entrance to the Tourism Zone of Eravikulam National Park always congested,” officials pointed out.
It has been pointed out that though a dedicated parking area has been set up, strict measures are not being taken to direct vehicles to the parking area.
“It is considering these issues that a specific parking lot was jointly set up by the Anamudi Forest Development Agency and the Highrange Wildlife Preservation Association. However, there are no efforts for the strict implementation of parking at this specific parking area,” sources said.
They further pointed out that, in spite of directions issued by the District Collector, no action has been taken to evict illegal occupants along the stretch. There is a major issue of waste dumping in the streams and Shola forest in and around Fifth Mile, thereby polluting streams and sholas. The volume of waste produced by the vendors is beyond the management capacity of the Eco-Development Committees (EDCs) operating in Rajamala.
There is a much more serious issue due to waste dumping. It has been attracting wild animals, including elephants.
Consumption of waste materials, including plastic dumped by the shops, may prove costly. There were incidents where wild animals were attracted by the waste.
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