State Wildlife Board drops Ankola rail project for the fourth time

Giving conservation programmes a shot in the arm, the Karnataka State Wildlife Board on Monday “dropped” the controversial Hubballi-Ankola Railway project which had already been rejected thrice by the state government.

Refusing to yield to intense lobbying favouring the project, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa-headed board decided to drop the project for the time being.

Despite the project being rejected thrice by the state government, the proponents had bypassed the state and submitted a proposal to the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), headed by the prime minister, last year. Interestingly, the NBWL had directed the Railways to come through the state government. The issue was tabled yet again before the Board and rejected by the chief minister.

Sources in the Wildlife Board revealed to DH that a few of the IAS officers present during the meeting tried to convince the chief minister to give approval for the project as it would support the development. However, the majority members, including Forest Minister Anand Singh and MLA Sowmya Reddy, appealed that it should not be given clearance considering what the state has witnessed in Kodagu. Convinced by the argument, Yediyurappa reportedly directed the officials to ‘drop’ the project for now.

It was surprising that the officials tried to convince the chief minister by referring to a report by the IISc submitted by noted ecologist Dr T V Ramachandra, favouring the project by adopting a few mitigation measures. A senior Karnataka Forest Department official confirmed that the project has been ‘dropped’.

The project spanning 168 km linking Hosapete with ports at Belikeri and Tadadi near Karwar in Uttara Kannada district had sought diversion of 596 hectares of forest in the Western Ghats which has Kali Tiger Reserve and other protected areas. The rail line work required the felling of close to 2 lakh
trees.

Giridhar Kulkarni, a wildlife activist who had petitioned to the State Wildlife Board to drop the project said, “It is reliably learnt that majority of the board members opposed the proposal. I hope their objections would be recorded and a suitable decision should be taken in the interest of
wildlife.”