No rail track through Melghat Tiger Reserve: Chief Minister to Centre

Uddhav Thackeray

Seven days after retaining some members of the previous committee for constituting the State Board for Wildlife (SBWL), CM Uddav Thackeray chose to confront the Centre over a railway line that is proposed to run through the Melghat Tiger Project. The CM wants the railway line to be constructed along the alternative alignment which will protect biodiversity in the core of the project that came into existence 48 years ago and has an attractive tiger population of at least 55 tigers.

Following the approval of the then BJP-ruled Maharashtra government (2014-19), the Centre has approved to convert the 176-km Akola-Khandwa meter gauge into a broad gauge track. The proposal was opposed by the SBWL and wildlife agencies such as the National Tiger Conservation Authority appointed by the Supreme Court. Activists had argued that several deaths in the tiger-man conflict were reported even while only four services of meter gauge trains ran in the past.

Since the old meter gauge tracks have been removed and the matter was pending before the National Board for Wildlife, the Centre asked the Maharashtra government for its opinion again. Thackeray wrote letters in response to the Centre's query.

Thackeray has told Union environment and forest minister Prakash Javadekar and railways minister Piyush Goyal to change the alignment of the track to avoid man-animal conflict and destruction of protected tiger habitat. He reiterated SBWL's suggestion to take the track to the alternative route passing through Jalgaon Jamod and Sangrampur which will help at least four lakh commuters from 145 villages in Maharashtra and many others from 150 villages in Madhya Pradesh.

"While development is important, the long-term detrimental impacts on the habitat of the tigers and the wildlife need to be considered and a viable alternative for the proposed gauge conversion of the railway line should be worked out," said Thackeray in the letters.

Kishor Rithe, who was in the previous state wildlife board, said, "I suggested an alternative, but in vain." He gave all credit to the CM for taking up the case even before the new board could meet for pushing the proposal for Thackeray's consideration. He said the state government had spent R400 crore for rehabilitating 13 villages in the core forest area which ultimately increased breeding of the big cats and the tiger sighting is now very frequent. Environmentalist Debi Goenka of Conservation Action Trust thanked the CM. "This is wonderful and very welcome news. I wish you would apply the same logic for protecting our marine biodiversity in Mumbai and Maharashtra," he tweeted.

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