Advertisement
The Gulf conflict has disrupted global supply chains, pushed...
REITs have changed the way commercial real estate is owned a...
What does it take to preserve a real estate legacy while bui...
What really powers the cloud? Behind every Google search, A...
A lot of what defines a home isn’t visible at handover. I...
The Centre has granted final approval, with conditions, for felling nearly 1.40 lakh trees in forest areas of Madhya Pradesh’s Indore and Khargone districts for the Mhow-Khandwa railway gauge conversion project. Around 1.24 lakh of these trees are in Indore. The 156-kilometre project involves replacing the existing metre-gauge alignment with a broad-gauge line. Tree cutting is expected to begin after the monsoon, while the Railways will have to implement a Green Railway Corridor Management Plan covering plantation, rainwater harvesting and energy-efficient operations. Compensatory plantation will cover 916 hectares in Dhar and Jhabua.
The Centre has granted final approval, subject to environmental conditions, for the felling of nearly 1.40 lakh trees to facilitate the Mhow-Khandwa gauge conversion project in Madhya Pradesh. The trees are located in forest areas of Indore and Khargone districts, where the railway line passes through dense forest stretches.
Tree felling is expected to start after the monsoon season, which officially ends on September 30. The cutting will be carried out in phases and will follow the sequence in which gauge conversion work is taken up in different forest stretches.
The Mhow-Khandwa project involves converting the existing metre-gauge railway route into a 156-kilometre broad-gauge line. The existing metre-gauge route was originally laid before Independence and covered about 118 kilometres. The gauge conversion is part of efforts to improve rail connectivity from the Indore region towards Khandwa and further to western and southern parts of the country.
Divisional Forest Officer Lal Sudhakar Singh said around 1.40 lakh trees will be affected by the work, including approximately 1.24 lakh trees in Indore district. The Railways and the state forest department are jointly preparing the plan for tree felling and the associated work.
The final forest clearance comes with a condition that the Railways implement a Green Railway Corridor Management Plan for the project. Under the plan, native tree species will have to be planted along the railway tracks, while additional plantations will be taken up on vacant land within and around the project area.
The Railways will also be required to develop rainwater harvesting structures near the tracks and adopt energy-efficient measures during the operation of the railway line. The plan will be funded by the Railways and monitored by the forest department.
The forest department has separately prepared measures to reduce the impact of tree cutting on wildlife, soil and moisture. The environmental measures are intended to address the effect of the railway construction on the forest stretches through which the new alignment will pass.
The Mhow-Sanawad section of the project affects forest land in both Indore and Khargone districts. According to officials, the project affects 404 hectares of forest in Indore and 46 hectares in Khargone. To compensate for the environmental impact of tree felling, plantation will be undertaken over twice the affected area.
Indore has limited land available for the required plantation. As a result, 916 hectares have been identified for plantation in the forest divisions of Dhar and Jhabua. The plantation plan provides for 1,000 saplings per hectare.
The forest-clearance records also show that the Mhow-Sanawad gauge conversion project involves diversion of forest land for the broad-gauge alignment, particularly along the Patalpani-Mukhtiara Balwara section. The official forest-clearance proposal records 208.89 hectares of forest land for diversion, including 188.97 hectares in Indore and 19.92 hectares in the Barwah forest division.
The project has been under the forest-clearance process for several years. The official records identify it as a linear railway project requiring forest diversion to bring the existing alignment up to broad-gauge standards.
The Mhow-Khandwa gauge conversion is important for Indore because the existing railway network does not provide a direct broad-gauge connection towards Khandwa through the Mhow-Sanawad stretch. Once completed, the new line is expected to improve the city's rail connection with Mumbai and strengthen links from western Madhya Pradesh towards southern India.
The project is targeted for completion by 2030, according to officials. Its execution, however, involves difficult forest and terrain conditions in parts of the Mhow-Sanawad stretch, making forest clearance and mitigation measures important components of the work.
Source PTI
Advertisement
Facebook
Whatsapp
