BAGALKOT: South Western Railways (SWR) is suspected to have landed in a legal snag after it has come to light that it violated one of the laws of National Green Tribunal (NGT) by dumping debris into the Ghataprabha river. However, when Express contacted the SWR officials and brought this to their notice, they did not have knowledge about debris being dumped into the river near Guddada Mallapura (submerged village area), which is at distance of about 5 km from Bagalkot.
Ghataprabha is an important tributary of the Krishna river. It flows for about 283 km before its confluence with Krishna at Chikkasangam, which is distance of 22.7 km from the district headquarters of Bagalkot. The old Bagalkot town is located on the bank of this river. The SWR have taken up doubling of Hotgi-Kudgi-Gadag railway line at an estimated cost of Rs 2,058 crore, where the project was sanctioned in 2015, and the track laying is being done at a brisk pace between Gadag and Vijayapura.
In between Bagalkot and Almatti, there are many natural hills, through which the railway authorities are cutting a path after taking permission from the departments concerned and making way to lay tracks under the doubling project. It is the contractor entrusted with the responsibility of cutting the hills to make the way for the railway tracks who is allegedly dumping debris into Ghataprabha, which is an offence.
About 20 to 30 cubic square metre of debris is reportedly dumped into the river, which has been done without bringing to the notice of departments concerned in the district. In their response to the issue, officials of the Mines and Geology department said they have no idea about the railway authorities dumping debris into the river.