MoEF Makes a Right Decision, Hope the same analogy is implied to Gundia Hydro Electric Project also

Hubli-Ankola rail line scrapped

The Centre has refused to give permission to the 167-km Hubli-Ankola railway project, which was to cut through 750 hectares of Uttara Kannada district’s lush green forest.
Sources said the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment has denied clearance to the project citing environmental reasons, sources in the state forest department said.
The Rs 1,000-crore project, for which the foundation stone was laid by the then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in 1999, was considered to improve the transportation of iron ore from Bellary mines to Mangalore and Karwar ports and also agriculture produce from the north Karnataka districts to other parts of the state.
However, it met with stiff opposition by environmentalists and by the state forest department since it would the project would have required the destruction of around 750 acres of forest land and felling of around 2.65 lakh trees to lay the tracks. The forest department, on the contrary, had suggested a realignment to line parallel to the National Highway.
Meanwhile, acting on a PIL filed by environmentalists from Uttara Kannada, the Supreme Court ordered a stay on the project.
With the recent visit of the Union Minister Jairam Ramesh to Karnataka, the state government once again had appealed to him to look into the issue.
Sources told Express that the Union Minister cancelled the project and in about a day or two would be issuing a final order in this regard, thus dashing hopes of the government which was confident of getting it cleared this time around.
A senior official from the forest department said, ``We are very happy that the project has been stopped since we have been opposing it for a long time.’’ He said the forests where the proposed railway line was supposed to come up, ``was one of the best forests we have’’.
He said the would have have cut across the whole Western Ghats, leaving a trail of disaster for both its ecology and the environment.
He said the proposed project was line was in the heart of the area where there is animal activity. Bisons and elephants roam these areas, he said. ``Hence, we would never allow of the forest to be bifurcated and to lose a big chunk of the natural forests,’’ he said