Satpura Melghat Tiger Corridor Railway Line Forest Clearance

The Union environment ministry’s forest advisory committee has granted in-principle forest clearance for a new railway line through the Satpura-Melghat tiger corridor, a critical stretch that provides a safe pathway for wildlife, including tigers, sloth bear, leopards, and deer.

The third railway line between the Jujharpur-Dhodramohar section falls on the Central Railway’s busy Itarsi-Nagpur route.

The Central Railway proposal sought diversion of 8.0357 hectares of forest land, including in forest compartments in the wildlife corridor between Satpura and Melghat tiger reserves, as per minutes of the committee’s June 10 meeting and official proposal documents.

The in-principle or Stage-I clearance was granted on the condition that final approval will be granted only after this railway line section, along with two others on the Itarsi-Nagpur route, gets wildlife clearance from the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife.

No working permission or authorisation for works on forest land is to be granted until final forest clearance is issued, the forest advisory committee stated in the minutes of the June 10 meeting.

The Itarsi-Nagpur route passes through Narmadapuram (formerly Hoshangabad), Chhindwara, Pandhurna, and Betul districts in Madhya Pradesh and Nagpur district in Maharashtra. The broad-gauge double line is a key segment of the high-density Rajdhani corridor connecting New Delhi with Chennai, Secunderabad, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram.

To enhance carrying capacity, the Centre has approved the construction of a third line between Jujharpur and Dhodramohar to be implemented by Central Railway, Nagpur Division.

The Itarsi-Nagpur line and the Ballarshah-Gondia railway routes witness several wildlife deaths annually, NTCA officials added, making the incorporation of mitigation structures such as overpasses and underpasses crucial.

An award-winning journalist with 14 years of experience, Nikhil Ghanekar is an Assistant Editor with the National Bureau [Government] of The Indian Express in New Delhi. He primarily covers environmental policy matters which involve tracking key decisions and inner workings of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. He also covers the functioning of the National Green Tribunal and writes on the impact of environmental policies on wildlife conservation, forestry issues and climate change. Nikhil joined The Indian Express in 2024. Originally from Mumbai, he has worked in publications such as Tehelka, Hindustan Times, DNA Newspaper, News18 and Indiaspend. In the past 14 years, he has written on a range of subjects such as sports, current affairs, civic issues, city centric environment news, central government policies and politics. ... Read More