The proposed Hubballi-Ankola railway line project, which came before the State Board for Wildlife on Wednesday, witnessed vehement opposition from the members, forcing the authorities to defer taking any decision on it.
The subject was listed in the agenda for the 11th meeting of the wildlife board which is also the first under the coalition government of the State.
The project, which entailed clearing 595.64 hectares of forests in Karwar, Yellapura, and Dharwad regions had the support of a section of the Forest Department officials. They favoured the railway line on the grounds that it would help facilitate the development of the region.
But other members said there was already a railway line from Hubballi to Madgaon, which was linked to Ankola, and hence the new railway line would be redundant and the environmental costs which entailed felling nearly 2 lakh trees, could not be justified. In addition, the railway line was proposed to meet the freight traffic owing to increase in iron ore export, but that has now declined. Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who chaired the meeting, was apprised of the environmental fallout of the project. The proponents of the railway line were reminded of the natural disaster that hit Kodagu last August. Forest Minister Satish Jarkiholi, who attended the meeting sensing the opposition, announced that the matter has been deferred.
‘Major setback’
Though it is a temporary reprieve as the government has not rejected it completely, wildlife activists have said that it is a major setback for those who were in support of it. The project has been twice rejected by the National Board for Wildlife on the grounds that the Government of Karnataka had bypassed the State Board for Wildlife. Besides, there were environmental issues that could not have been ignored and even the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had opposed it.
