Speed breakers have been installed along the National Highway connecting Mettupalayam to Coonoor and Udhagamandalam to minimise the chances of vehicles colliding with elephants and other wildlife.
According to sources in the Forest Department, the speed breakers had been installed after the Madras High Court judges visited the Nilgiris on seeing videos of a herd of elephants finding it difficult to cross the road along the Coonoor ghat.
The judges had made recommendations to the National Highways wing to implement a series of measures to protect elephants and ease movement along the Kallar corridor and the Coonoor ghat. Numerous constructions along the highway, and also by the Salem division of the Southern Railway along the Coonoor ghat had hindered elephants using the landscape.
