Railway projects awaiting environmental clearance may be revived
At least 29 projects worth over `30,000 crore are awaiting forest clearance from the environment ministry
New Delhi: Some railway projects that are stuck for want of forest clearance may be revived soon, with environment minister Prakash Javadekar accepting in principle Indian Railways’ demand that projects for doubling of tracks of gauge conversion be spared from the requirement.
At least 29 projects worth over ₹ 30,000 crore are awaiting forest clearance from the environment ministry, said a railway official who did not want to be named. Many of them are pending for five years and at least 10 projects, worth ₹ 5,000 crore, are related to doubling, tripling of tracks or gauge conversion.
“To decongest rail traffic on busy routes, projects involving doubling and tripling of lines along with conversion of meter gauge to broad gauge are very important. Many such projects are stuck due to delay in forest clearances," said the official quoted above.
The official said the railways requested the environment ministry to relax the forest clearance norms in such cases. “We wrote to the environment ministry last month about the issue. The point is we should not need a new forest clearance for these projects as we had already got forest clearance when they were constructed earlier. Also the expansion works will be done on the railway land itself," the official said.
While a senior environment ministry official on condition of anonymity said that no final call had been taken on the railways’ request, the minister said there was nothing wrong with the railways’ demand.
“If they are doing on the same land (doubling or tripling or conversion) there is no issue," said Javadekar. He, however, clarified that he has not seen the railways’ letter as yet.
Over the past one year, the environment ministry has relaxed green clearances norms for linear projects like highways or transmission lines to speed up infrastructure development.
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