In a U-turn, state tells SC committee no broad gauge line through Melghat
Vijay Pinjarkar | TNN | Jan 17, 2019, 03:41 IST
Nagpur: In a U-turn of sorts, the state government has told the Supreme Court’s Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC) that upgrading the meter gauge railway line to broad gauge through the 2,768 sqkm Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR) will not be feasible. It has added that some positive steps need to be taken to save the reserve. As per the latest estimates there are 45-50 tigers in MTR.
Submitting its reply to the CEC on Wednesday during the hearing on two separate petitions filed by environment lawyer Manish Jeswani from Akot and Prasad Khale of Conservation Action Trust (CAT), Mumbai, the government has urged CEC to adjudicate on the issue and find out some positive solution in the interest of wildlife.
The government reply states that Akot Wildlife Division, through which the railway line passes, has been completely made inviolate by relocating 18 villages by following all provisions and the aim with which the line was laid no more serves the purpose.
Referring to the railway reply, it said that the proposed gauge conversion through MTR will involve construction of 6 major and 58 minor bridges, 49 sharp curves, 2 major tunnels. “The 360 metre Talai and 560 metre Wan tunnels will need blasting with suitable explosives and deployment of heavy machinery. This will not be in the interest of the tiger reserve.”
The state also said that railways have submitted that it does not attract Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 under the right of way (RoW). But MoEFCC on December 5, 2017 has clarified that since the RoW is part of the critical tiger habitat (CTH), FCA will be applicable.
The petitioners made 13 respondents. Barring railway officials, all others were present. The two-hour hearing was conducted by chairman PV Jaykrishnan, member-secretary Amarnath Shetty, and members Mahendra Vyas, SK Patnayak, and MK Mutthu. Maharashtra was represented by APCCF & field director MS Reddy and member-secretary of state of biodiversity board A Ashraf. NTCA member-secretary AK Nayak and others were also present.
The next hearing is slated to be held on January 31 and forest department has been told to submit a detailed fact sheet. Sources said the CEC has decided to issue a notice to the Railway Board.
Congress MLA from Buldhana Harshawardhan Sapkal says, “The 176km Akola-Khandwa railway line, of which 39km passes through MTR should be constructed on the alternative route as it will benefit over 2.50 lakh people instead of over 6,000 if is goes from inside.”
In 2008-09, the Railway Board had sanctioned Rs1,421.25 crore for track renewal of Akola-Khandwa meter gauge under the uni-gauge policy. The stalled issue hogged limelight when BJP government came to power in the state and Centre.
A working group was constituted on September 11, 2015 by NTCA on the issue which recommended that alternative alignment should be taken and if at all it is not possible than the project was recommended with mitigation measures to be suggested by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun. WII has still not submitted a plan.
On April 5, 2016 the state wildlife board (SWBL) too recommended the project despite a ‘no’ from the field director. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) in its 40th meeting on January 3, 2017 cleared the project subject to mitigation measures subject to suggestions from NTCA.
After the NBWL recommendation, MoEFCC constituted an experts’ working group which conducted a field visit between August 14-17, 2017 and submitted a report in December 2017 stating that alternative alignment should be taken.
The issue of stalled upgradation snowballed after highways minister Nitin Gadkari and railway minister Piyush Goyal at a meeting in Delhi on June 18 last year gave the go-ahead for the project as railways did not need any clearances.
Accordingly, SC Jain, executive director (works), Railway Board, on June 19 issued letter asking South Central Railway (SCR) to expedite work on the project.
This was despite NTCA 2017 report stating, “Though economic growth is important for alleviating poverty and for bringing all-round development, protected areas (PAs) are required for even more crucial ecological and environment security of the country.”
Submitting its reply to the CEC on Wednesday during the hearing on two separate petitions filed by environment lawyer Manish Jeswani from Akot and Prasad Khale of Conservation Action Trust (CAT), Mumbai, the government has urged CEC to adjudicate on the issue and find out some positive solution in the interest of wildlife.
The government reply states that Akot Wildlife Division, through which the railway line passes, has been completely made inviolate by relocating 18 villages by following all provisions and the aim with which the line was laid no more serves the purpose.
Referring to the railway reply, it said that the proposed gauge conversion through MTR will involve construction of 6 major and 58 minor bridges, 49 sharp curves, 2 major tunnels. “The 360 metre Talai and 560 metre Wan tunnels will need blasting with suitable explosives and deployment of heavy machinery. This will not be in the interest of the tiger reserve.”
The state also said that railways have submitted that it does not attract Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 under the right of way (RoW). But MoEFCC on December 5, 2017 has clarified that since the RoW is part of the critical tiger habitat (CTH), FCA will be applicable.
The petitioners made 13 respondents. Barring railway officials, all others were present. The two-hour hearing was conducted by chairman PV Jaykrishnan, member-secretary Amarnath Shetty, and members Mahendra Vyas, SK Patnayak, and MK Mutthu. Maharashtra was represented by APCCF & field director MS Reddy and member-secretary of state of biodiversity board A Ashraf. NTCA member-secretary AK Nayak and others were also present.
The next hearing is slated to be held on January 31 and forest department has been told to submit a detailed fact sheet. Sources said the CEC has decided to issue a notice to the Railway Board.
Congress MLA from Buldhana Harshawardhan Sapkal says, “The 176km Akola-Khandwa railway line, of which 39km passes through MTR should be constructed on the alternative route as it will benefit over 2.50 lakh people instead of over 6,000 if is goes from inside.”
In 2008-09, the Railway Board had sanctioned Rs1,421.25 crore for track renewal of Akola-Khandwa meter gauge under the uni-gauge policy. The stalled issue hogged limelight when BJP government came to power in the state and Centre.
A working group was constituted on September 11, 2015 by NTCA on the issue which recommended that alternative alignment should be taken and if at all it is not possible than the project was recommended with mitigation measures to be suggested by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun. WII has still not submitted a plan.
On April 5, 2016 the state wildlife board (SWBL) too recommended the project despite a ‘no’ from the field director. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) in its 40th meeting on January 3, 2017 cleared the project subject to mitigation measures subject to suggestions from NTCA.
After the NBWL recommendation, MoEFCC constituted an experts’ working group which conducted a field visit between August 14-17, 2017 and submitted a report in December 2017 stating that alternative alignment should be taken.
The issue of stalled upgradation snowballed after highways minister Nitin Gadkari and railway minister Piyush Goyal at a meeting in Delhi on June 18 last year gave the go-ahead for the project as railways did not need any clearances.
Accordingly, SC Jain, executive director (works), Railway Board, on June 19 issued letter asking South Central Railway (SCR) to expedite work on the project.
This was despite NTCA 2017 report stating, “Though economic growth is important for alleviating poverty and for bringing all-round development, protected areas (PAs) are required for even more crucial ecological and environment security of the country.”
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