Kumta-based Railway Seva Samiti Uttara Kannada has said that a misinformation campaign has been launched by vested interests to undermine the importance of Hubballi-Ankola Railway Project for the region.
The project is now before the National Board for Wildlife for clearance after the High Court’s intervention.
Railway Seva Samiti Uttara Kannada is one of the impleading applicants and respondents to the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by Project Vruksha Foundation in the High Court of Karnataka.
Addressing presspersons in Hubballi on Friday, samiti secretary Rajeev Gaonkar, vice-president Venkataramana Nayak and advocate Akshay Kolle said that the misinformation campaign is being carried out in a systematic way against the project with a view to stalling it. However, the High Court has now cleared one of the hurdles and has directed the National Board for Wildlife to submit a report on the project within two months.
Mr. Gaonkar said that Project Vruksha Foundation, which was granted stay initially, is actually misleading the public with inaccurate information on the project.
“In the petition, it has been mentioned that the railway line will pass through 10 km Default ESZ (Eco Sensitive Zone) of Kali Tiger Reserve, which is factually incorrect. According to a survey and mapping carried out by an agency certified by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the project does not pass through the ESZ. Also, the petitioner’s claim that the distance between the project and the outer boundary of Eco Sensitive Zone is 10 km is inaccurate,” he said.
Mr. Kolle said that after all these facts were presented before it, the court cleared the stay order and directed the National Board for Wildlife to constitute a team to study the issue and submit the report within two months.
Mr. Gaonkar said that injustice has been meted out to the people of Uttara Kannada because of the inordinate delay in the implementation of the project which was initiated by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999. He also said that the project will be an important link for the Sagarmala Project.
To a query, he said that the samiti has written to the National Board for Wildlife seeking time for presenting its view points before it.
