Govt panel rejects plea to allow forest land in Goa to be used by the Railways

The Regional Empowered Committee (REC) of the Union environment ministry has rejected a proposal to lift the abeyance on the diversion of 15 hectares of land in the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary in Goa for the doubling of the Kulem-Kalem railway line in the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats.

- Gerard de Souza

PANAJI:

The REC discussed the matter at a meeting on February 26 during which the panel said the Supreme Court judgment in the matter has to be read in its spirit. In 2022, the top court revoked the wildlife clearance for the project based on recommendations by the court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC).

The Rail Vikas Nigam Limited had sought the lifting of the abeyance for the stretch on the edge of the sanctuary, arguing the CEC's recommendations against the diversion of land and the Supreme Court's orders in this regard did not apply to it.