Karwar:Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an election campaign in Hubballi had targeted the state government for causing delay in implementing the long pending Hubballi-Ankola railway project. He had said that the state government was not enthusiastic about the project.
Hubballi-Ankola railway is decades-old demand of North Karnataka, especially Uttara Kannada district, for overall development of the region as well as coastal districts. If a railway line is laid here, it will help improve employment generation, tourism, business, port development and rail connectivity.
A retired railway officer said: “It’s a good development that the Prime Minister has raised the issue. The proposal will get a boost and things may soon change. The project is a decades-old demand of the region. When Dinakar Desai represented Uttara Kannada district in the Parliament, he raised his voice for this ambitious project in 1960s. The project was announced in 1997 and the foundation stone was laid in 1999. But it soon started facing opposition from environmentalists and court scrutiny.
” Last year, the project got the green signal with certain conditions stipulated by the Regional Empowered Committee (REC) of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. It also stated that after fulfillment of the recommended conditions, the REC would issue stage-1 clearance for the project. According to the present proposal of 168-km railway line, there will be 34 tunnels and nine stations. The project may see the cutting down of 2.02 lakh trees. The REC has asked the railways to propose more tunnels, reduce axing of trees, revise the mitigation measures being taken, including construction of underpasses for wildlife.
Hubballi-Ankola Railway Horata Samiti president Ramananda Nayak said the longpending project was opposed by some environmentalists and a case was filed in the Supreme Court. Later, it was referred to the Green Tribunal. Last year, the Green Tribunal asked to prepare a fresh proposal after fulfilling the recommendations made by it. There is lack of coordination between state and Central governments. All MPs and ministers from the state should force the Union Environment Ministry to push the project. Only then it will get cleared. The project, if implemented, will help thousands of people, besides saving hundreds of lives from accident deaths on National Highway-63, he added.
How it helps?
The railway line will help the north and central Karnataka people to export ore and agriculture products through Karwar, Belekeri and Tadadi ports. They can easily import petroleum products, fertilisers, cement among others. This will help the coastal region improve economically and bridge the regional imbalance.