Title - Disaster Exp may slow down at Thol

AHMEDABAD: In a meeting on Wednesday with Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) authorities, the forest department made it clear that the preventable death of birds due to electrocution will not be tolerated.Chief wildlife warden C N Pandey asked DFC authorities to submit a detailed technical report about the possibility of electrocution of birds due to the new railway tracks to be laid near Thol bird sanctuary. This step was taken following the Times of India report on Sunday: "Khadir frying pan to freight line fire." TOI reported that the Gujarat government had decided to allow railway tracks to be laid within 700 metres of Thol bird sanctuary. The tracks will be for electrified railway lines capable of handling 25 tonne axle load and trains of 750 metres. There are fears that high-tension wires near the sanctuary will lead to disasters like the one that took place in Khadir in Kutch.Thol, a sanctuary visited by migratory birds, is a freshwater lake. The shallow body is surrounded by marshes and scrubby forest on its banks. Covering an area of 7 square kilometers, the lake area was officially declared a sanctuary in 1988.

Railway officials said that the electricity lines passing near Thol will carry power at around 25 KV. The standing committee of the National Board of Wildlife, which had approved the project, had ignored the electrification aspect.

Sources said that the forest department was unaware that the railway lines would be electrified. On discovering this fact, the department immediately called the authorities of the project to seek an explanation.

On Wednesday, the official project team reached Gandhinagar and tried to convince Pandey and his team that the electric lines were safe and that there have been no instances of electrocution at the railway lines.

Forest department officials insisted that trains approaching the sanctuary should slow down in order to minimize the disturbance to the birds. The team was warned that if the forest department feels the tracks are threatening the sanctuary, the department will ask the team to change the alignment of the tracks.

Pandey said, "We had a meeting with senior officials from the DFC and have asked the Railways to declare the area near the sanctuary a 'no honking zone.'"

A staffer at the sanctuary said, "When the officials were considering the proposal, we had objected as 750 metre long trains moving at a speed of 100 km/hr will disturb the birds. We had also said that the tracks should not be electrified."