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Stiff opposition to Hubballi railway line
Why in news?
- The Hubballi-Ankola railway line project in Karnataka entails large-scale destruction of forests, including the felling of nearly 2.2 lakh trees in a biodiversity hotspot
- The 164.44-km railway line passes through forests between two major protected areas: Kali Tiger Reserve & Bedthi Conservation Reserve.
More in news
- About Kali Tiger Reserve:
(1) It is a protected area and tiger reserve located in Karnataka.
(2) The park is a habitat of Bengal tigers, black panthers and Indian elephants, amongst other distinctive fauna.
(3) The Kali River flows through the tiger reserve and is the lifeline of the ecosystem and hence the name. The Tiger reserve is spread over an area of 1300 square kilometers.
(4) The forest in the area was declared the Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary on 10 May 1956. The state proposed carving out a section of the sanctuary to form the Anshi national park, and the proposal was implemented on 2 September 1987.
(5) It was renamed to Kali Tiger Reserve in Dec 2015.
(6) The park is home to several hydroelectric dams and a nuclear power station.
- About Bedthi Conservation Reserve:
(1) It is located in Karnataka and was established in 2011.
- About Conservation Reserves:
(1) Conservation reserves and community reserves in India are terms denoting protected areas of India which typically act as buffer zones to or connectors and migration corridors between established national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved and protected forests of India.
(2) Such areas are designated as conservation areas if they are uninhabited and completely owned by the GoI but used for subsistence by communities & community areas if part of the lands are privately owned.
(3) These protected area categories were first introduced in the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act of 2002 − the amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
(4) These categories were added because of reduced protection in and around existing or proposed protected areas due to private ownership of land, and land use.
Sources
The Hindu