Peeved by undue delays in implementing the Hubli-Ankola Railway line, Dharwad MP Prahlad Joshi has urged the Centre to take steps to implement the work immediately.
In a letter to minister of state for Railways K H Muniyappa, Joshi has alleged that the dilly-dallying by the Centre over the last five years had caused undue delays in implementing the project and has affected development of North Karnataka.
Joshi pointed out that the previous regime of the UPA had rejected the proposal in 2004 citing damage to the environment as the reason. “Following this, we held several meetings with Railway officials, forest and environment departments, and sent a revised proposal reducing the number of trees that would be felled. The Railway authorities, and forest and environment departments have been sleeping over the proposal. Meanwhile, some environmentalists have approached the Supreme Court and obtained a stay order from the apex court’s high power committee for the work on project. The onus now is on the Centre to impress upon the court that there would be no damage to the environment and that Karnataka has agreed to take up compensatory afforestation work. The Centre should satisfy the Supreme Court by providing necessary information,” Joshi said in his letter.
The MP has said, initially the Centre was pointing fingers at Karnataka saying that the state government had not cleared the project.
“But, as a result of the efforts of speaker Jagadeesh Shettar and others, the state government had given the green signal to the project in June 2008. I have been repeatedly trying to draw the attention of the Centre towards its neglect of the project,” Prahlad Joshi said.
The MP has also warned that the people would be forced to agitate for the project if the government continued to test their patience.
