After Outrage, Thane Bullet Train Station Gets Redesigned To Save Nearly 21,000 Mangroves

The National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), which is the nodal agency for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor has come up with a new design for the station in Thane to save thousands of mangroves.

The NHSRCL said the design was reworked to reduce the number of affected mangroves from the estimated 53,000 to 32,044.

Earlier, the agency had come under heavy criticism from environmentalists after it emerged that the corridor will affect tens of thousands of mangroves spread over 13.36 hectares.

Maharashtra Transport Minister Diwakar Raote had earlier this week informed the assembly that as many as 54,000 mangroves will be affected because of the project.

Activists had questioned the move claiming that the destruction of the mangroves which is vital of the ecological balance of the city could have far-reaching consequences.?

NHSRCL MD Achal Khare said in a statement that the required wildlife, forest and CRZ clearance were taken and that the forest clearance came with a few conditions. One condition required a review of the Thane station design so as to reduce the area of affected mangroves.

Modification of the design without having to change the location of the station was discussed with the Japanese engineers, Khare said.

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“Parking area and passenger handling area have now been moved out of the mangrove region...Earlier, 12 hectares of mangrove region were getting affected in Thane, but now only three hectares will get affected,” he said. Instead of the estimated 53,000 mangroves, 32,044 mangroves will now be affected he added.

He also added that the agency will compensate at the rate of 1:5, by depositing money into mangroves cell, which will do the compensatory afforestation.

"So the number of mangroves which are getting cut is 32,044. Then around 1,60,000 new mangroves will be planted and the entire financial expense will be borne by NHSRCL. New mangroves will be planted through mangrove cells," he added.

The nearly Rs 1 lakh crore project which runs a length of 508 km will cut down travel time between? Mumbai and Ahmedabad to just two hours. The alignment will be partially underground near Mumbai and the rest will be elevated.

The Japan-funded project is expected to become operational by 2022.