Munnar's Escape Road: The legend of an interstate highway that disappeared

If one wants to reach Kodaikanal from Munnar, one has to travel 175 km via Palani or 169 km via Poopara-Theni. However, there was once a road that could take a traveller to the destination by one-third of this distance. But, this interstate highway has virtually disappeared. This is the legendary Escape Road of the British era, which is only 49 km long, from Top Station in Munnar to Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu. The Top Station viewpoint, situated 35 km from Munnar, is a must-see for most tourists visiting Munnar town. On the road from Top Station to Vattavada-Kovilur, there is another road from the Kerala Forest Department check post to the right, through the Pampadum Shola National Park, for a length of 9 km to the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. Jeeps of the Kerala Forest Department currently ply on this 9 km road.

The Forest Department conducts a trekking programme for tourists along this route up to the Kerala border in Pampadum Shola Park. At the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, in the Vantharav mountain range, near the Forest department's watchtower, this trail continues to the banks of the Berijam Lake, a prominent tourist destination in Kodaikanal, under the name of Bander-Berijam Trail. The Tamil Nadu Forest Department allows a certain number of visitors and vehicles to pass through Berijam Lake every day. This means vehicles can now travel on the 49-km old Escape Road, 9 km from Pampadum Shola National Park to the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border and 24 km to the west from Kodaikanal town. On the Tamil Nadu side, vehicular traffic is not possible for about 16 km west of Berijam Lake up to the Kerala border due to trenches dug by the Tamil Nadu government and overgrown bushes. If this road is upgraded, Escape Road could become passable again. However, Tamil Nadu has not indicated any plans to reopen the road. Additionally, an alternative road (Theni-Kurangani-Top Station Highway) is under construction in Tamil Nadu.

How the road came to be
In 1900, a tramway, followed by a monorail and a road, was built from Munnar to Top Station via Kundala on the Kerala side to facilitate the transportation of tea from the Kannan Devan Tea Company. However, in the great flood of 1924, the Munnar-Top Station railway and the ropeway from Top Station to the lower station were destroyed, halting tea exports from Top Station to Tamil Nadu and onwards to England. This situation led to the demand for a new route to transport Munnar tea from Top Station to Kodaikanal. Built-in 1915 by the Madras Presidency as a hill station for the British, the Los Ghat Path through Batlagundu connected Kodaikanal with the ports of Dhanushkodi and Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu. In 1925, the Escape Road, which was a dirt track, was created from Kodaikanal to Top Station via Berijam Lake for the export of Munnar tea. But at that time the road was not known as Escape Road.

How did it become an 'Escape' path?
The origin of the path dates back to the Second World War. On April 7, 1942, at 4:35 a.m., a warning siren sounded in Madras city. The townspeople jumped out of their sleep in panic. They had heard news of Japanese bombers attacking Colombo in Ceylon on April 5 and Kakinada and Visakhapatnam in Andhra on April 6. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the American Naval Base in Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, killing about 2,400 Marines and civilians, was also fresh in their minds. On April 11, the Governor of Madras Presidency issued a notice urging people to move to safer places. People sold their properties at distressed prices and fled the place. At that time, every day more than half a million people were escaping by train from the Madras railway station to the nearby areas.

The Madras Zoo authorities shot the animals and took measures to ensure the safety of people after the expected bombing. Following these events, prominent and wealthy residents of Madras began moving to Kodaikanal. With the threat of a Japanese bombardment of Madras, the British authorities considered any escape to England through the Bay of Bengal-Indian Ocean route dangerous. As a solution, the Kodaikanal-Top Station road was surfaced and reinforced to accommodate military vehicles. Transit camps were built at intervals of 15 km for soldiers to rest. Thus, the Kodaikanal-Munnar road was named Escape Road, intended as a route for high officials and their relatives in the Madras Presidency to escape to England via Kodaikanal-Berijam-Top Station-Munnar-Kochi.

The Kodaikanal-Kochi port route was mentioned as the Escape Route in military documents of that time. The real Escape Road today is a 40 km stretch from Moir Point in Kodaikanal to Berijam Lake, Konalar Dam, Vantharav, and Top Station. After the Escape Road was closed in 1990, an alternative route for farmers to reach Kodaikanal with agricultural produce was established. This 100 km route goes from Top Station-Kovilur-Kottakampur-Kadavari-Kilivarai-Poondi-Mannavannoor-Poombara and Kodaikanal. The stretch from Kadavari on the Kerala border to Kilivarai on the Tamil Nadu side is now prohibited for non-locals in private vehicles.

Previously, Malayalee travellers used this route to reach Kodaikanal in private vehicles via the Kadavari-Kilivarai section. There is now a bus service from Kilivarai to Kodaikanal. The Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments once considered this route as an alternative to the Escape Road and planned to construct a new highway. However, these efforts ceased as the Kadavari-Kilivarai sections became part of the proposed Kurinji Sanctuary and National Park.

If a new road is to be built through this region, it would require approval from the Central government, which is hard to come by. Some people mistakenly refer to this path as the Escape Road. The true Escape Road originated from Top Station, went eastward through today's Pampadum Shola National Park, passed the 17 hairpin roads of the Vantharav region, and crossed near the Vantharav peak to Kodaikanal. The section where the Escape Road passes at Vantharav is at an altitude of 8,140 feet, making it the highest motorable road south of the Himalayas in India. By constructing the road through Kurangani, Tamil Nadu aims to prevent tourists from travelling from Kodaikanal to Munnar. In other words, the closure of the Escape Road shows Tamil Nadu's intention to restrict the flow of tourists from Berijam Lake to the natural beauty of Munnar.

The road closed in 1990
The Escape Road was closed in 1990, and the idea of a new route to Kodaikanal through the Kottakampur-Kadavari region emerged when resort developers were encroaching on government lands in Munnar on a large scale. Locals say that the resort lobby favoured an alternative route to Kodaikanal through the Kottakampur-Kadavari region since there was no private land available for them along the Escape Road, which passed only through forest land.

The two major tourist centres of South India are just 16 km apart. The need is for a flyover across this 16 km stretch that does not harm wildlife, similar to the Gavi-Berijam model of controlled pedestrian and vehicular traffic. If this is made possible, the traveller who comes to Kodaikanal can visit Berijam the next morning reach the Top Station within hours and spend the night in Munnar, all on a single day. Similarly, tourists who visit Munnar during the day could retire to bed in Kodaikanal at night. In short, the tourist spots of Kodaikanal and Munnar will become parts of a single travel circuit.