Environmentalists have expressed concerns over the proposed felling of more than 1.24 lakh trees for a railway project in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore and Khargone districts, which aims to improve the region’s connectivity with Mumbai and the southern parts of the country.
According to officials, the Western Railway is currently working on the 156-kilometre Mhow-Khandwa gauge conversion project, which involves converting the line from a narrow-gauge to a broad-gauge line. The concerned forest area falls within the Mhow-Sanawad section.
Mhow sub-divisional forest officer (SDO) Kailash Joshi told The Hindu that the forest, located in the 454-hectare area in Mhow and Choral subdivisions, has about 1.4 lakh trees. Of the 454 hectares, about 400 are in Indore district, while the remaining fall in Khargone’s Barwaha forest division.
“This is an estimated number, as the exact number will be clear after the ongoing marking work is complete. So far, we have marked 35,000 trees in Mhow subdivision,” he said.
“The proposal has gotten stage-1 clearance from the Union Environment Ministry after the recommendation from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority. We are now preparing a ground survey report for the area to determine the impact and associated costs. The Railways has to give a compliance report for the final approval from the Centre,” the official, involved with the proposal, said on condition of anonymity.
