1,076 trees to be felled for upcoming Kasara-Kalyan third line

The Kasara and Kalyan third railway line in Mumbai will require the cutting down of 1,076 trees and the acquisition of 37.18 hectares of eco-sensitive forest land. The project, which has been in planning since 2005, will reduce congestion on the existing lines and improve public transport. However, environmentalists have criticized the loss of trees and forest land, stating that it will lead to an ecological imbalance. The project is part of the Mumbai Urban Transportation Project ? 3A and is yet to take shape.

Mumbai: The upcoming Kasara and Kalyan third railway line, which will come up parallel to the existing double line, will be done at the cost of cutting down 1,076 trees and the acquisition of 37.18 hectares of eco-sensitive forest land. This was confirmed by the State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) in its proposal.

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The Central Railway (CR) authorities invited tenders for part of the project on Sunday. The proposal was cleared by SBWL this month.

The project will claim 0.13 hectares of Tansa wildlife reserve, 16.33 hectares of forest area deemed as eco-sensitive zone and 20.72 hectares of non-forest area of deemed eco-sensitive zone.

Environmentalist Nandkumar Pawar said, “The development in Mumbai Metropolitan Region and infrastructure augmentation is costing a lot of trees and forest land. This is leading to ecological imbalance. We have to plant more trees in nearby areas. Such large-scale destruction of trees is not tolerable.’’

The new third line will be 67.62 km long and passes through Kalyan and Shahapur tehsils of Thane district. It is an important line which will reduce the interference of mail trains in the suburban network. Currently, there are 147 local trains, 71 long-distance passenger trains and 20 freight trains which run daily on the two existing railway lines between Kalyan and Kasara. CR officials said that there’s an urgent requirement for additional trains between Titwala, Asangaon and Kasara stations. “Therefore, to reduce the congestion on the existing line, laying the third parallel railway line is of utmost priority and public interest,” added a CR railway official.

The third line was first planned in the year 2005 and was scheduled to be completed by March 2023, but it was delayed due to various reasons, including Covid and permission delays.

The work is being carried out by the deputy chief engineer (construction) of Central Railway and is part of Mumbai Urban Transportation Project – 3A. This project is yet to take shape and the Central Railway has also announced a fourth line from Kalyan to Asangaon on the Kalyan-Kasara sector.

A BMC employee belonging to the water works department and working at Tansa Lake, who has facilitated a lot of plantations, said, “It takes at least 20 years for a tree to grow. Tansa Sanctuary houses two lakes: Tansa and Modaksagar. When such a large number of trees are lost for various projects, it will surely affect the ecological balance.”

The Central Railway spokesperson said that the land acquisition is currently in process and they are in talks with the forest department for land. The official, however, is not aware of how many trees will be felled for the project.