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Sikkim Lok Sabha MP stresses on environmental viability in Railway Budget 2009

Sikkim Lok Sabha MP stresses on environmental viability in Railway Budget 2009

GANGTOK, July 9 SE: Sikkim lone MP, Lok Sabha PD Rai presented a written statement on Railway Budget in the Parliament debate on July 7.
Thanking the Union railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on crafting an excellent Railway Budget 2009 in so short a time and also for her commitment to completing the Sevoke-Rangpo rail link as a National Project and then completing the service to Gangtok extending the same rail link, Mr Rai also said that the introduction of the new North East Rail Corridor will open the gateway of economic and social development for the region. “It will also boost industrial growth through cheaper, faster and environmentally positive transfer of necessary goods,” he said.
The Sikkim Lok Sabha MP further brought to the notice of the House a host of issues revolving around the key questions about the North East Railway Corridor to ensure that the rail development is not being done at the cost of the environment. “While the railway project is desirable, it is important that the necessary steps are taken to ensure that environmental costs are minimized,” he stressed.
Detailing on the issue, Mr. Rai pointed out that environmental viability has been missing form the Railway budget although it has promised a much desired emphasis on ensuring social viability along with economic viability. “If insufficient attention is given to avoiding damage to the natural environment and its recovery from damage in the engineering activities associated with Mountain Railways such as site selection, design and construction, the degradation of the mountain environment will increase and endanger the safety of railway operations. Environmental impact appraisal should thus be carried out on the basis of the relationship between engineering construction and engineering geology. This is at the heart of the Mountain Paradigm that I have been emphasizing for the Himalayan and other hill States,” he added.
Choice of railway line corridors and construction activities should be done keeping in mind the extent of degradation that will be caused to the mountain environment. Mountain degradation leads to landslides, and debris flows that in turn is associated with soil erosion. Newly built mountain railways are bound to lead to changes in the geomorphic features, destruction of vegetation and arbitrary placing of immense quantities of spoil. Without the production of appropriate countermeasures, these impacts are likely to advance mountain degradation to a much larger extent, he further said.
At the same time, the Sikkim MP said the proposal to further link additional strategic locations in the North East through rail cannot be undermined and should be lauded.
In terms of providing opportunity for Railways to develop Capacity for building in Mountains, he opined that the construction of the Sevoke-Rangpo rail line is a great opportunity for developing the capacity for developing mountain rail building capacity, especially in view of the fact that the Railways have never had a focused vision of building in the Mountainous regions of the country especially the Himalayas. This, he said was a new paradigm called a Mountain Paradigm and therefore needs a careful study and thinking.
According to Mr Rai, a considerable sum of the Mountain Railway Budget should be allocated for hazard control and that care has to thus be taken to minimize damage to the mountain environment during the cutting and filling of sub-grade engineering works.

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