Udhagamandalam: Tourist vehicles are still taking Ooty-Kalhatty-Masinagudi ghat road for downhill journey, for which the stretch with 36 hairpin bends was closed two and half years ago because of frequent fatal accidents. Based on a report of then Nilgiris superintendent of police (SP), the district administration issued an order to close the road for tourists in 2018. The order was notified in the Nilgiris district gazette too.
However, the road was opened for tourists on February 8 by the previous SP V Sasi Mohan. But the road was again closed for downhill journey after seven accidents occurred on the road in a span of three weeks, killing one.