Centre clears diversion of mangroves for Borivali - Virar railway expansion
The Union environment ministry's regional empowered committee has approved the diversion of 12.78 hectares of mangrove forests for the expansion of railway services in Mumbai. The proposal, which includes the felling of over 2,000 mangroves, has been awaiting clearance for over a year. The project aims to add a fifth and sixth railway line to the Western Railway to ease congestion. The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation has been instructed to construct animal underpasses to protect wildlife in the area. The project is still awaiting necessary clearances from the Bombay High Court and the state coastal zone management authority.
Mumbai: The Union environment ministry’s regional empowered committee in Nagpur has sanctioned the diversion of 12.78 hectares of un-notified mangrove forests, for expansion of railway services between Borivali and Virar. The proposal, which will lead to the felling of 2612 trees (including 2092 mangroves), has been awaiting the Centre’s clearance for over a year.
Under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (Phase III), a fifth and sixth railway line will be added to the currently congested Western Railway at a cost of around ₹2,184 crore. The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has also been instructed to work with the state forest department and construct a series of animal underpasses to ensure the smooth movement of wildlife in the region.
“The proposed project is 2.58 km from the boundary of Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, 1.8 km from Sanjay Gandhi National Park and 16.30 km from Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary. The deputy conservator of forests, Dahanu, has mentioned that there is the presence of Schedule- I animals like Indian Chameleon, Cobra, Python, Russell’s Viper,” the REC noted while clearing the proposal.
As per the MVRC’s proposal, the 12.78 hectares of mangroves proposed for diversion are located in Mumbai’s Dahisar village (3.68 hectares), Thane’s Penpada village (1.42 hectares) and Palghar’s Umele village (7.67 hectares).
“There are right now five lines between Mumbai Central and Borivali and the sixth line is under construction. From Borivali to Virar there are only four lines, so the bottleneck effect at Borivali will worsen if the network is not expanded. This will segregate suburban and non-suburban services on the western line beyond Borivali, and create independent slow and fast corridors between Virar and Churchgate which will allow for us to increase services across the entire length,” said an official with the MRVC.
Though forest clearance applications typically ask project proponents to submit an analysis of alternative alignments for linear intrusions, the MVRC has clarified that no such analysis is possible in the given instance because of the “site-specific” nature of this project and that the area sought to be cleared is “barest minimum and unavoidable”.
The MRVC is yet to obtain necessary clearances from the Bombay high court for the clearing of mangroves, and CRZ clearance from the state coastal zone management authority.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the prime minister, approved Phase-IIIA of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project in April 2020 to improve the connectivity of mass rapid transport between Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts.
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