Concern over felling of trees for railway project in M.P.

Environmentalists have expressed concern over the proposal to fell more than 1.24 lakh trees in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore and Khargone districts for a railway project aimed at improving the region’s connectivity with Mumbai and southern parts of the country.

According to officials, Western Railway is currently working on the 156-kilometre Mhow-Khandwa gauge conversion project, which involves converting the line from a narrow gauge line to a broad gauge line. The forest area in question is located within the Mhow-Sanawad division.

Mhow sub-divisional forest officer (SDO) Kailash Joshi said: Hindu The forest, spread over 454 hectares in Mhow and Choral subdivisions, has around 1.4 lakh trees. Of the 454 hectares, about 400 are in Indore district while the rest falls in the Barwaha forest division of Khargone.

“This is an estimated figure, the exact figure will be clear after the ongoing marking work is completed. We have marked 35,000 trees in Mhow subdivision so far,” he said.

“The proposal has received phase 1 approval from the Union Environment Ministry on the recommendation of the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority. We are now preparing a ground survey report for the area to determine the impact and associated costs. Railways are required to submit a compliance report for final approval from the Centre,” the official associated with the proposal said on condition of anonymity.

“Phase-1 permission is conditional and one of the main conditions is that the land must remain forest land and the Railways must plant trees on both sides of the project,” the official said, adding that the forest department will also get 916 hectares of land in nearby Dhar and Jhabua districts.

Compensation

He said that with the compensation paid by the railways, more than 9 lakh trees will be planted there. “Apart from planting, the railways will also cover the maintenance costs of the trees for 10 years,” the official added.

The official claimed that the project would help the region connect with the western and southern parts of the country. “This line will mainly facilitate connectivity with Hyderabad and Mumbai regions. Although Indore is a major city, the region still does not have good rail connectivity and people have to go to Ratlam, Bhopal and even Gujarat for train travel,” the official added.

However, environmental activist and lawyer Abhinav Dhanodkar said that regardless of the importance of the project, felling of such a large number of trees could have been avoided. “The Mhow-Choral forest is among the most prominent and dense forests in the region and the project aims to clear most of it. The number can be reduced significantly if the railways build bridges and more tunnels. It will increase the cost slightly but will definitely save the wildlife of the region,” said Mr. Dhanodkar, adding that the power line is likely to affect the ecology of the region as well.

“The forest department is talking about planting trees in other places, but that will not help this region. Also, cutting down mature trees and planting saplings are not the same thing,” he said.