Why the urge to fall off the green track?

In the recent Union Budget, Karnataka got an allocation of Rs 7,561 crores, the highest-ever capital outlay for railways. This is a nine-fold increase over the previous year’s expenditure of Rs 835 crores. It is good news for the state, but for the proponents of the 164-km Hubballi-Ankola Rail Line (HARL) it is a stark reminder that there was no allocation. Priority was given to projects like the doubling of track on important routes rather than allocating money for megaprojects like HARL.

Despite this clear indication of a lack of funds, the Karnataka government and its politicians are continuing their assault to force the statutory bodies to give the green light to the proposed project. It will cost Rs 4,000 crores and devastate 600 hectares of prime forest on the Western Ghats’ fragile slopes. Additionally, 400 hectares of forests will be indirectly impacted as a result of approach roads.

It was inaugurated by then-Prime Minister Vajapayee in 1999 and has been rejected ten times by statutory bodies, including the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee in 2015.

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In 2016, the National Green Tribunal asked the state government to prepare a fresh proposal. Cutting across the party line, both the Congress and BJP governments have tried to push through this destructive project.

The fresh proposal was once again rejected by the Central Government’s Regional Empowered Committee, the National Board for Wild Life (NBWL), and the National Tiger Conservation Authority. In March 2020, the State Board for Wild Life unanimously rejected the project, pointing out that it would lead to the destruction of elephant and tiger habitat.

Alarmed by these rejections, the politicians manipulated the State Board for Wild Life and invited non-members, especially politicians, to get the green light, overriding rejections. Technically, this is in violation of the State Wild Life Rule 2006. This was questioned by environmental organizations, who filed a case in the Karnataka High Court. The court gave the NBWL 10 weeks to submit the report in June 2022. In September 2022, an expert committee appointed by the NBWL visited the site and held consultations with the stakeholders.

This committee gave its report in December 2022 and said that the proposal should not be considered in its present form and should address ‘gaps and deficiencies’. While discussing the report, NBWL suggested significant changes, including the acquisition of more forest land to construct a double line. This was chaired by Bhupender Yadav, Union minister of environment, forest and climate change.

Instead of taking the final call, this statutory body suggested holding a workshop with numerous stakeholders. Strangely, similar consultation was done by the expert committee in both Uttara Kannada and Dharwad districts.

Numerous rejections have shown that the project will decimate the fragile ecosystem of the Western Ghats, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 2012. Experts are suggesting building more tunnels to decrease the impact on wild life. However, the landslides in 2022 in the same region indicate the fragility of the soil, increased drilling for tunnels will lead to further landslides, destabilising the hydrology of the entire region and affecting natural water cycles.

In its report, the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee said “the project would cause huge and irreparable damage to the forests, wildlife, and biodiversity of the Western Ghats, which would far outweigh the actual tangible benefits of the project.” Despite these warnings, why do politicians want to go around statutory bodies’ reports and manipulate the red signal to turn green? Obviously, they are not willing to learn lessons from the recurring floods and landslides across the Western Ghats during the monsoon.

In contrast to this, on rare occasions the politicians show their wisdom. Karnataka has shown its wits with the Kerala government by not giving permission to build the rail line connecting Mysore and Kerala.

As a proactive step, the Bommai government has firmly rejected the proposal by the Kerala government to build rail lines from Mysore to Thalassery. The Chief Minister said that it falls under the eco-sensitive zones of tiger reserves and elephant sanctuaries. The conditions for HARL are similar, as it cuts across the rich, biodiverse Kali Tiger Reserve and Elephant Corridor, both declared eco-sensitive areas. It is ironic that despite Kali Valley being the most fragile area, politicians are determined to pass the death sentence on it. Unfortunately, the 2.2 lakh trees that will be felled do not have voting power! Wild animals in this region are unable to speak for their cause. Almost 40% of the Western Ghats region falls in Karnataka. The state government has been entrusted with the trusteeship to conserve these bioresources not only for the present generation but for the coming generations.

If it can resist the demands of the Kerala government for a new rail line, what prevents it from stopping the HARL that falls solely under the jurisdiction of the state?

(The writer is a Uttara Kannada-based environmentalist.)