Please read article published in Times of India, Nagpur Cong MLA of Buldhana too opposes rly line through Melghat Vijay Pinjarkar | TNN | Updated: Jun 30, 2018, 00:19 IST Nagpur: Even as South Central Railway (SCR) is insisting on upgrading the meter gauge railway line through Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR), the move has created a political storm, with the Congress being the latest to jump on to the bandwagon opposing the decision. On June 26, Congress MLA from Buldhana Harshawardhan Sapkal urged governor C Vidyasagar Rao to stop the anti-environment move to broaden the 176km Akola-Khandwa railway line, of which 39km passes through the tiger reserve. Earlier, BJP MLA from Jalgaon-Jamod Dr Sanjay Kute had, on June 6, written to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to oppose the project through MTR. Sapkal told TOI, MTR is home to 50 tigers and the Centre has taken the decision without considering climate change issues. “Melghat has come up slowly in the last 46 years by spending crores of rupees on conservation. It is the country’s fourth biggest reserve with an area of 2,768 sq km and acts as lungs of Vidarbha, and broad gauge line destroying rich biodiversity is not acceptable,” he said. “Instead of going through MTR, I would suggest connecting the line via Akola-Jalamb-Akot. A broad gauge line already exists between Akola-Jalamb,” Sapkal said. The Congress MLA said as per Human Development Index (HDI), Jalgaon-Jamod and Sangrampur blocks outside MTR are backward, and railway infrastructure would bring social and economic development as a population of over 2.50 lakh people can benefit. On Thursday, Youth Congress activists from Jalgaon-Jamod submitted a memorandum to the SDO against taking up the project through MTR. They demanded alternative route through Hiwarkhed-Sonala-Jalgaon Jamod. However, even as villagers are gearing up against the upgradation of railway line, SCR is reluctant to budge. SCR chief public relations officer (CPRO) Umashankar M did not respond to TOI calls on Thursday. On Monday, he had promised to come back with details. After a meeting between highways minister Nitin Gadkari and railway minister Piyush Goyal on June 18 at Delhi, SC Jain, executive director (works), Railway Board, had on June 19 issued a letter asking SCR to start work on the project as clearances are not needed. When SCR’s chief engineer (construction) GRK Reddy was asked about the ownership of the land through MTR, he said, “When meter gauge is passing through the reserve, no doubt the land belongs to the railways. We will go ahead with the upgradation as planned, but it will take some time.” However, when the NTCA team constituted by the government to examine the feasibility visited the site, there was no record to state whether the said land with claimed right of way (ROW) belonged to the railways. This fact has also been mentioned in the NTCA report. TOI has already reported NTCA concluded that the project through tiger reserve is unfeasible. On Wednesday, taking note of the issue, the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court has admitted a series of TOI reports as PIL filed by social worker Pramod Junghare. Wildlife lawyer Manish Jeswani says the railways will have to prove ownership of land. “Even if ROW belongs to them, they cannot circumvent forest clearance,” he said