Railways sees red over green ministry’s delays

The Environment Ministry says such projects have a severe impact on wildlife and pristine forest area.
Railwaysa
Railwaysa

NEW DELHI: Two Central ministries have got into a tussle over clearance of railway projects with the Ministry of Railways seeking a waiver of green clearances for projects on its land while the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change is insisting that the work cannot be started without its approval.
The matter was discussed last month by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Pragati, a platform for grievance redressal. The Ministry of Railways has submitted a list of 17 projects with an estimated cost of `10,000 crore consisting of gauge conversion, doubling-tripling and new lines, which are being delayed pending forest and wildlife clearance by the Environment Ministry. led by Anil Madhav Dave

Suresh Prabhu
Suresh Prabhu

The bone of contention between the ministries is mandatory forest clearance to construct a project on forest land or a rail track passing through a wildlife corridor. According to the Ministry of Railways headed by Suresh Prabhu, seeking forest clearance for conversion from metre gauge to broad gauge should be done away with. The Environment Ministry is objecting to it.
Railway officials have cited Section 11 of the Railway Act, 1989, which says that the Railways will have right over land and any other Act will not be valid.

During the meet chaired by the PM, the Ministry of Railways cited projects that have been delayed for 3-6 years pending green clearance. The Jaipur-Sikar-Churu gauge conversion in Rajasthan and the Akola-Khandwa gauge conversion in Maharashtra were also discussed.   
Rail connectivity in the Northeast has been a priority for the NDA government, but the Lumding-Silchar gauge conversion in Assam was delayed for want of environment clearance. It took six years to get clearance for the Jabalpur-Gondia railway line passing through Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh.

A meeting was held in Cabinet Secretariat on Friday to sort out the issue between the two ministries. “When a project is taken up for conversion from metre to broad gauge, what is the need for forest clearance? The land is owned by the Railways and is already being used for non-forest purpose as the line is operational and we are only expanding it. Going for forest clearance delays projects,” said sources in the Ministry of Railways.  

The Environment Ministry says such projects have a severe impact on wildlife and pristine forest area. Mitigation measures also have to be taken to ensure minimum damage to forests.
The issue regarding the Jaipur-Churu gauge conversion has been sorted out and the Railways does not need to seek forest clearance for it. However, issues related to other projects continue and the two ministries continue to differ.

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