Shiv Sena Joins Environmentalists Opposing Trains Through Mumbai Forest

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Forest Department has cleared the 90 billion dollar Mumbai-Delhi Freight Corridor with a portion of it running through the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, a protected area.

The decision is being opposed by not just conservationists but even the BJP's alliance partner in the state, the Shiv Sena. Yuva Sena President Aditya Thackeray tweeted against the move. "Once again, all for development. But has to be sustainable. Don't kill Mumbai, don't kill forests in Mumbai and Thane for such projects (sic)," he tweeted in one of his many tweets on the corridor.

Chairman of the Wildlife Conservation Trust Anish Andheria told NDTV, "National Parks, by law, are the most-well protected forests of India and as per wildlife laws no amount of non-forest activity can happen there. There are already a lot of problems the park is facing and on top of that you'll have a railway line which will cut through the park. What it will do is it will definitely increase the chances of accidents."

"Destruction of Mumbai won't be allowed by the Party. Delhi-Mumbai corridor is from Dadri to Nhava Sheva. Can avoid forest destruction," Mr Thackeray said in another tweet.

Vikas Gupta, Director of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, says the freight corridor is being built on land already in possession of the railways and there is very little park authorities can do about it. The proposed corridor will run along the existing Vasai-Diva rail link. "It already had a track and now parallel to that track the second track will come up. The thing to understand is this area was in the possession of the Railways in the same area they are putting this new track."

The government says wildlife laws are being followed and all care will be taken to protect animal life. Maharashtra Forests Minister Sudhir Munghantiwar told NDTV, "There is no chance of any law being violated and the corridor will be developed in accordance with existing norms."