Frightened motorists stopped their vehicles as the Makna elephant blocked their way. The traffic was restored after about half an hour even after the elephant reentered the forest.
The Nilgiris: There are more than 10 villages in and around Masinagudi area near Ooty. The people of these villages have to commute to Ooty for their essential needs on a day to day basis.
The life line for them is Masinagudi - Mawanella - Kallatti hill route for the motorists. More over, tourists from various states, including Karnataka, also come to Ooty through this road.
The highway, which has about 30 kilometre stretch, has dense forest cover on both sides, and it is customary for wild elephants to come to the road side ever so frequently.
In this situation, Makna, a male elephant without a tusk, had blocked the way of the the vehicles at the junction of The Pokkapuram Road last evening.
Alarmed by this, motorists parked their vehicles on both sides of the hill road and watied with bated breath.
Traffic was disrupted for more than half an hour due to the Makna presence on the road.
However, the elephant returned to the forest after which the traffic was resumed.