Union environment ministry’s Regional Empowered Committee (REC) has rejected a proposal to lift the abeyance on the diversion of around 15-hectare land under Goa’s Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary for the doubling of the Kulem-Kalem section of a railway track in the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats.
The approval for the project in April 2020 triggered protests in Goa. Residents feared it would pave the way for additional coal transportation to Karnataka’s steel plants.
The Rail Vikas Nigam Limited sought the lifting of the abeyance for the stretch on the edge of the sanctuary arguing the committee’s recommendations and the Supreme Court’s orders in this regard did not apply to it. It said they should be interpreted to only refer to the Castle Rock to Collem part of the track.
The REC discussed the matter at a meeting on February 26 and said the Supreme Court judgement in the matter has to be read in its spirit. According to the minutes of the meeting, the REC noted the court directed the user agency to carry out a detailed analysis of the project’s impact on the biodiversity and ecology of the protected areas under the sanctuary. “The Goa forest department is also of the view that there is not much difference with respect to ecological diversity between the Castle Rock-Kulem section and Kulem-Kalem section,” said the minutes, a copy of which HT has seen.
The REC directed the user agency/state government to expand the scope of the study to the proposed Kulem-Kalem section as it is also part of the sanctuary. The Supreme Court in 2022 upheld the committee’s recommendations against the diversion. The panel in its report said it did not find “any justification for undertaking a project of this nature which will destroy the fragile ecosystem of the Western Ghats”. The report underlined the Western Ghats is an internationally recognised biodiversity hotspot and one of the country’s most important wildlife corridors.
The Supreme Court allowed the railways to submit a fresh proposal to the National Board of Wildlife’s Standing Committee after a detailed analysis of the project’s impact on the biodiversity and ecology of the protected areas under the sanctuary. The court said the proposal would be considered.
The Wildlife Institute of India submitted a fresh environmental impact assessment of laying the second track alongside the railway line between Goa’s Mormugao Port and northern Karnataka.
The railways said the track doubling will improve mobility and all-weather rail links and bring economic benefit for Goa by accelerating development with a boost in trade and commerce.
The latest report on mitigation measures suggested drainages, fencing, level crossings (for animals) with early warning systems, wildlife overpasses, ledges and culverts, amphibian passages, canopy bridges, etc. It warned that “it is necessary to avoid doubling the proposed railway track if it is not practicable to carry out the indicated mitigating measures.”
“Given that the railway tracks pass through ecologically sensitive and fragile habitats, doubling without the proposed measures owing to the technical feasibility is not recommended. To conclude, the railway track should only be doubled if there is a mechanism and possibility of implementing the suggested measures,” the report said.