MARGAO: Wildlife activists and anti-coal crusaders have welcomed the suggestion of the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) that the double-tracking of the Vasco-Castlerock-Tinaighat section be “dropped” and instead double track be laid for the Hubballi-Ankola route.
They hope that this leads to the eventual scrapping of the much-opposed railway double-tracking project in Goa.
It is to be noted that the NBWL board members, while discussing Karnataka’s proposal at a recent standing committee meeting for the rail project between Hubballi and Ankola, said there was a ‘need for avoided’ deforestation and hence, double-tracking of the denser forest areas like on the Vasco-Castlerock-Tinaighat route should be dropped.
The standing committee, after discussion, decided that the Union Environment Ministry should hold a joint workshop with officials of the Ministry of Railways, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Gati Shakti, Karnataka government and experts from IIT-Dharward, IISC-Bangalore, and the central PWD, to discuss the project proposal in detail.
Given that this is just NWBL’s recommendation and it has been accepted yet, there will be at this point no further change in the approach of the South Western Railway (SWR) and Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) in carrying out preparatory work for the implementation of the double tracking project in Goa.
Nonetheless, activists in Goa have hailed this suggestion and hope it will help pause the ongoing double-tracking works underway in the State.
Amche Mollem Citizens Group questioned why this suggestion regarding the Goa stretch was not made much earlier, but it expressed concern over the destruction of forests on the Hubballi-Ankola route too.
Dr Nandini Velho, wildlife researcher, said, “After three years of relentless protests against the double tracking of the railway project along the Vasco-Tinaighat line, the NBWL has finally come on board. However, why did it take three years for this to happen? Shouldn’t this have been raised by the IISC many years ago when they were doing their EIA on the double-tracking project?”
After all, the professor, who conducted the EIA, was a member of the NBWL. What was the need to conduct yet another study by the Wildlife Institute of India costing a whopping Rs 4.5 crore when the CEC report already stated the outright unviability of this project? These standalone projects should not be conflated. There are equally valid concerns about the Hubali-Ankola railway project. One forest cannot be destroyed for another,” stated Dr Nandini Velho, a wildlife researcher.
Felix Furtado of the Rainbow Warriors (RW) and Goyant Kollso Naka (GKN) NGOs said the NBWL suggestion has to be taken seriously by the authorities concerned.
“I am elated and relieved to hear this much-awaited news. Our long and sustained struggle to get this project scrapped has finally been fruitful. Hats off to our leaders, who toiled day and night to achieve this result. People of Goa will invoke God’s blessings on the members of NWBL and the local warriors,” said Furtado.
“Goencho Ekvott (GE) welcomes the suggestion of the NWBL to drop the doubling of the Vasco-Castlerock-Tinaighat Section in favour of Hubballi-Ankola route since there was a need to avoid deforestation of densely forested areas,’ said GE Founder Orville Dourado Rodrigues.
GE and Goenchea Ramponkarancho Ekvott (GRE) however hoped that this suggestion would be taken into cognisance by the local authorities and the ongoing works by RVNL in Velsao be stopped immediately.
“When the local panchayats of Velsao-Pale-Issorcim and Cansaulim-Arossim-Cuelim have received multiple complaints from private landowners about the alleged criminal trespass and illegal construction by RVNL and despite the panchayat issuing a stop-work order until RVNL proves to the panchayat that they have the title documents of the disputed land, RVNL continues to violate land laws with the active connivance of local authorities, who are actually duty bound to protect the interest of the local residents,” Rodrigues added.
“We welcome the wildlife board decision which is completely sensible to drop double tracking at Vasco to Tinaighat as we cannot destroy UNESCO areas at the time of global warming, due to climate change. Most countries are now aiming for zero carbon emission, but in India is the opposite,’ said Olencio Simoes, GRE general secretary.
“In May 2022, the Supreme Court had revoked the doubling of the existing railway line from Castlerock (Karnataka) to Kulem (Goa) and stated that there are alternative ports like Krishnapatnam on the east coast available with better rail connectivity for transport of goods to and from the industrial belt of northern Karnataka and the capacity of the same is yet to be fully utilised. But unfortunately, the government is bulldozing all the laws and supporting all illegal RVNL work by forcefully encroaching on private properties in Velsao, Cansaulim areas to complete the doubling of railway tracks. We, therefore, demand that the government should immediately halt all the works of RVNL,” Simoes demanded.
