Over 1,000 Trees To Be Cut For Third Railway Line Between Kalyan and Kasara

The Central Railway (CR) has invited bids for the construction of a third railway line between Kalyan and Kasara. The line will be 67.62 kilometres long. It will pass through Kalyan and Shahapur tehsils in Thane district. Central Railway announced bids for a part of the work on Sunday, April 4.

This new line will run parallel to the two existing tracks. These tracks currently carry 147 local trains, 71 long-distance trains, and 20 goods trains every day. Railway officials said more trains are needed for stations like Titwala, Asangaon, and Kasara.

The State Board for Wildlife has given approval for the project this month. The project was first proposed in 2005. It was supposed to be completed by March 2023. But it got delayed due to lack of permissions and the Covid pandemic.

The construction will affect 1,076 trees. It will also need 37.18 hectares of land. This includes 20.72 hectares in an ecologically sensitive zone, 16.33 hectares of forest area, and 0.13 hectares from the Tansa wildlife reserve.

The work will happen on 5.5 hectares of land. This land includes protected forest, private forest replacement, and final edited forest land. Tree felling will affect three villages. 

Forest officials in Thane have given conditional approval for the work. The permission will expire on December 5. Officials have asked the railway to make sure that natural water flow is not disturbed during construction.

The project is part of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project-3A. It is being handled by the deputy chief engineer of Central Railway. A fourth line between Kalyan and Asangaon is also being planned.

Tree planting will happen in three areas. These include 1.5 hectares in Penkar Pada in Thane, 1.5 hectares in Umele village in Palghar, and some land in Kandavalan in Dahisar village. The Tansa and Modaksagar lakes are inside the Tansa Sanctuary. Sources suggest that cutting many trees may disturb the balance of nature in the area.

Talks are still going on between Central Railway and the forest department about land purchase. Tree cutting for public projects has been approved by the Central Government and the State Environment Department.