Follow e-pass procedure to allow tourist vehicles in hill stations, Madras HC directs State

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court directed the State to follow the e-pass procedure allowing the tourist vehicles enroute to Kodaikanal and Ooty to control overcrowding during this summer season.

A Green Bench of Justice N Sathish Kumar and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy directed the State to commence the e-pass procedure from May 7 and also ensure that only vehicles having e-pass are to be entered into the hill stations.

The bench also directed the district collectors to collect the details from the tourists including the type of vehicle they are commuting, how many tourists are en-route to the trip, and the days of their stay in the hill station, before granting an e-pass.

The local residents should be exempted from the e-pass procedure, said the bench. The procedure should be followed until June 30 and it should be advertised nationwide, directed the bench.

The State submitted a report stating that more than 20 thousand vehicles are plying to the hill stations daily and the government is working on a report with the assistance of experts from IIT and IIM regarding finding the vehicle carrying capacity to the hill stations.

The bench also observed that overcrowding of tourists from all over the country to Ooty and Kodaikanal creating a huge trouble for the local residents, they couldn't travel on the road for medical emergencies, since the roads were jammed with tourist vehicles.

Hence, the bench observed that tourists' vehicles en route to the hill stations should be regulated in numbers to avoid overcrowding.