Centre's nod to divert forest for Bengaluru suburban rail depot

Bengaluru: Giving a fillip to the suburban rail project in Bengaluru, a committee of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has given conditional approval to the Karnataka government’s request for the diversion of 46 acres of forest land near Devanahalli to construct a depot.

The in-principle approval comes with the condition that the key species among the 17,615 trees marked for felling be translocated.

The Regional Empowered Committee of the ministry gave nod for the diversion of 45.96 acres of forest in Akkupete of Devanahalli taluk during the second round of deliberations held recently.

The committee had pulled up the state government and the Rail Infrastructure Development (Karnataka) Limited, known as K-RIDE, during the previous hearing, questioning the veracity of their claim that diversion of forest land for the project was unavoidable and the suitability of the alternate land suggested for compensatory afforestation.

The approval letter, dated October 28, has directed the K-RIDE to consult the forest department to identify suitable species for translocation and ensure important tree species such as Dalbergia latifolia (Indian rosewood) are translocated.

“The tree translocation plan prepared in consultation with the forest department shall be submitted along with stage-1 compliance report,” the letter said.

As per the tree list submitted by the K-RIDE, the forest department had identified 17,615 trees in the area.

Among them, 11,185 were acacia and 6,188 were eucalyptus followed by 100 bamboos. The remaining 142 trees belonged to 12 species.

A K-RIDE official said the approval would give a shot in the arm for the project. “Corridor 1 connects the airport (from Doddajala) and is a priority corridor. We estimate that it will take two years to commission the depot. Once the work is awarded, it will automatically boost other works. We are in the process of inviting bids for the second time to construct the KSR Bengaluru-Yelahanka corridor as the bidder in the first round had a technical problem,” the official explained.

Meanwhile, the committee pointed out that the area proposed for compensatory plantation work had already seen afforestation as observed through satellite imagery. The forest department, however, stated that certain activities had been taken up under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme 10 years ago but the area was suitable for plantation.

Forest to give way for rail 17,615 trees identified for felling 11,185 acacia 6,188 eucalyptus 100 bamboo Remaining 142 trees belong to 12 species