Hubli-Ankola rail line turning costly as Centre delays approval

Cost of 167-km long railway line is estimated at Rs 2,200 cr after state government accepted recommendations of expert team from IISc

The delay in approval by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) for the proposed 160 km long railway line between Hubli and Ankola, which connects the north Karnataka hinterland to the upcoming Tadadi port and existing Karwar ports, has resulted in cost escalation of the project by Rs 600 crore. The cost of the project is now estimated at Rs 2,200 crore, a top government official said.

The state has requested the Railways to take up the project on public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

“The infrastructure development department (IDD) has sent the Environment Impact Assessment report prepared by a team of experts from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, to the MoEF and Central Empowered Committee (CEC). We are waiting for a date from them for a hearing in this regard before they accord approval for the project,” Dr Rajkumar Khatri, Secretary, IDD, told Business Standard.

He said a team of experts comprising T V Ramachandran and T G Seetharaman had recommended certain measures to avoid deforestation in the Western Ghats area. They have recommended for reduction in use of forest area for the project from earlier 727 hectares to 662 hectares and cutting of 195,000 trees to 155,000 trees in order to eliminate man-animal conflict in the forest areas.

“The government has taken their report into consideration and decided to adhere to it. We have selected the second alignment to implement the project. As a result, the cost of the proposed railway project will go up by an additional Rs 600 crore to touch Rs 2,200 crore. We have explained to the MoEF on measures to be taken by us to preserve the ecology while implementing the railway project and waiting for their date for the meeting,” Khatri said.

The Railway Board sanctioned the 167-km long Hubli-Ankola railway line project during 1995-96. The 45-km stretch of railway line has been completed from Hubli to Kalghatagi. Presently, the issue of environment clearance is pending before the empowered institution for Kalghatagi-Ankola stretch since the area comes under forest zone.

The IISc team had studied the biological diversity, ecology and environment in the region between Hubli and Ankola. The railway line will be laid for 163.8 km connecting Hubli to Ankola. According to the team, a total of 1,134 hectares of land (727 hectare of forest land, 210 hectare of dry land and 179 hectare of wetland) will be completely degraded with the implementation of the project. It has noted that the rail line would pass through the sensitive tiger reserve area.

The terrain that falls in between Yellapura and Sathsall has thick forests and in order to minimize the damage to the ecology in the region the expert team had suggested for construction of many tunnels and bridges.

According to a plan mooted by South Western Railway, 20 stations will come up in the 164 km stretch and this would cause more damage to the forest area. The project poses threat to the rich flora near Yellapur taluk, which is not found elsewhere.

Deforestation to the tune of 20 per cent, landslide during monsoon at Vajralli and Yellapur, construction of labour colonies and blasting of rocks could be other deterrents for the project, according to the experts.

Once completed, the Hubli-Ankola railway line will provide speedy connectivity to the hinterland in north Karnataka to the existing port at Karwar and upcoming Greenfield ports at Tadadi and Haldipur on the west coast.