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Showing contexts for: Doubling Projects in The Goa Foundation And Another vs The Konkan Railway Corporation And ... on 29 April, 1992Matching Fragments
7. Mr. Grover then submitted that under Section 2 of the Forests (Conservation) Act, no authority can use forest land or any portion thereof for any non-forest purpose except with the prior approval of the Central Government. The grievance is that the alignment passes through the forest land and the Corporation has not secured prior approval for the use of the land for non-forest purpose. There is no merit in the submission because the project has been approved by the Central Government and the Railway Ministry which is carrying out the exercise is a part of the Central Government. The use of the forest land for providing railway line is not going to affect or damage the existence of forests and the complaint of the petitioners on this count is devoid of any merit. Mr. Grover also submitted that the alignment required cutting of several trees inside as well as outside the forests and such destruction of existing trees is not permissible in view of the provisions of the Trees Act. The submission is misconceived because the trees are cut for a public purpose to provide a rail line. Apart from this consideration, the Corporation points out that a project has been undertaken to plant double the number of trees which will be required to cut down for providing the rail line. Again, the project of such magnitude of providing the rail line passing through more than three States cannot be held back by catering to the alleged grievance of the petitioners that the trees are indiscriminately cut. It would not be out of place to mention that the averment on this count made in the petition is extremely vague. Mr. Dias, Advocate General appearing on behalf of the Conservator of Forests, Government of Goa, pointed out that there is no breach whatsoever of any of the provisions of the Forests Act of the Goa Preservation of Trees Act, 1984. Mr. Grover also submitted that the alignment will extinguish ecologically sensitive areas like Carambolim wetlands where the migratory birds visit during the course of year. Mr. Grover sounded an apprehension that a small lake at Carambolim will be filled up by the Corporation and that would prevent the migratory birds from reaching the State of Goa. Mr. Kakodkar submitted that the apprehension sounded is entirely imaginary and that the alignme'nt is not going to affect the wetlands. We are unable to find any merit in the objections raised to the proposed alignment in the State of Goa by the Corporation. The challenge to the continuation of the project on the ground that the alignment is likely to affect the environment and disturb the ecological balance is without any substance and is, therefore, required to be turned down.