Kamal Ghorui
Panaji: After the Union environment ministry’s Regional Empowered Committee (REC) rejected Goa govt’s proposal to allow the Kulem-Madgaon double-tracking to proceed, environmental activists in the state led by Goa Foundation’s Claude Alvares sharply criticised the Rs 4.7 crore spent for the environmental impact assessment (EIA) commissioned for submission before the ministry. The study was allotted to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). Goa Foundation heavily criticised Goa govt’s move to allot the study at such a high cost and accept the “shabbily done result”.The assessment by WII was submitted by Goa govt and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) to request the ministry to lift an abeyance order on forest land diversion in the Kulem-Kalem stretch. The stretch lies within the Bhagwan Mahavir sanctuary and its eco-sensitive zone. Alvares said Karnataka already termed the land unsuitable for diversion due to impact on its forest area.Goa Foundation criticised state govt and its forest department, and accused them of adopting an “anti-wildlife and anti-forest” stance in pushing forward a controversial railway project through ecologically sensitive zones.“The Karnataka forest department has refused to grant approval for portions of the same railway project that fall within protected areas in Karnataka. Why is one state resisting the project while another appears to be facilitating it?” Alvares said. Forest land diversion for the rail double-tracking project was kept in abeyance after Goa Foundation approached the Supreme Court.The REC, which reviews forest diversion proposals, has reiterated its opposition to segmenting the railway project into smaller stretches to obtain piecemeal clearances.It noted that this Kulem-Kalem section lies within both the wildlife sanctuary and its designated eco-sensitive zone (ESZ), and previously declined to recommend forest land diversion for this reason. It also highlighted that Goa’s forest department itself acknowledged minimal ecological differences between the Castle Rock-Kulem and Kulem-Kalem sections — both considered environmentally sensitive.Despite these objections, Goa govt renewed its efforts in Feb this year, forwarding RVNL’s request to revoke an earlier abeyance order, said Alvares. The submission included a “cumulative impact assessment” conducted by the WII, along with a traffic study by RITES Ltd.However, the REC has raised serious concerns about the WII report, calling it inadequate and lacking scientific rigour. According to the committee, the study focused largely on mitigation measures instead of conducting a thorough evaluation of the ecological consequences of the project within protected areas.Despite being a govt body under the Union environment ministry, the institute’s assessment has been accused of repeating flaws identified in an earlier study conducted by the Indian Institute of Science, said Alvares.The gaps highlighted include the complete exclusion of several ecological groups such as fungi, insects, arachnids and freshwater fish from the impact assessment. Alvares also alleged methodological weaknesses, including species misidentification and biased sampling techniques.He further pointed out that the EIA failed to consider the project’s social implications, despite significant public opposition in Goa. He argued that the railway line could irreversibly damage biodiversity in one of the Western Ghats’ most sensitive regions, a global biodiversity hotspot.
