The Union ministry of environment and forests has decided to review the revised proposal submitted by the railways on Hubli-Ankola broad gauge rail line project. The decision has given the jinxed project a fresh lease of life.
The revised proposal submitted by the railway ministry has reduced the forest land required by it for the project in the fragile ecosystem of Western Ghats.
Additional director general of the environment ministry, P B Gangopadhyay, will on Monday inspect the forest land required for the Rs 1,050-crore project which is designed to connect North Karnataka hinterland with the coastal region for access to Karwar port. The work on the project was stalled after it was denied environmental clearance in 2004.
Gangopadhyay will be accompanied on fied inspection by Nodal officer of Karnataka forest department, state chief wildlife warden and senior officials of the South Western Railway will accompany Gangopadhyaya. He will also discuss the project with MPs at Karwar and Hubli during his day-long tour.
Dharwad MP Prahlad Joshi who has taken up the issue with the Central government said the decision to have a relook at the proposal was a welcome step and hoped that the inspection would yield favourable results for Karnataka. The revised proposal has cut the requirement of forest land from 965 hectares to 727 hectares. But it still required felling of 2,65,120 tress in the fragile ecosystem of Western Ghats as the proposed railway alignment fragmented the traditional elephant migratory corridor and catchments of Kali, Bedthi and Gangavali rivers.
The Hubli-Ankola Rail line project, considered crucial for economic development of the region, was taken up in 2003. It is a 50:50 joint venture between railway ministry and Karnataka Rail Infrastructure Development Enterprise (KRIDE), a special-purpose vehicle created for expansion of rail network in the state.
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SWR had started laying track in the non-forest area from Hubli to Kalghatgi, pending clearance from the environment department which was denied in June 2004 following adverse remarks by the forest advisory committee.
Even as the Central Empowered Committee of Supreme Court was still examining this matter in totality, the state forest department developed cold feet. In March 2008, it recommended to the government that the Kalghatagi-Ankola portion of the line "be dropped once for all" as it will serve no purpose.
However, senior SWR officials maintain that the project was still viable. “The revised alignment takes care of the environmental concerns as we have introduced elevated rail tracks across the traditional elephant migratory corridors and at spots near the watering holes of wild animals in the Western Ghats' section of the line" the officials said
The Central Empowered Committee had advised the railway ministry in September 2006 to stop work on the 40-km Hubli-Kalghatgi stretch even in non-forest areas till the matter was examined in totality. Meanwhile, the railway ministry and the state government were asked to revise the project proposal.