The Ministry of Environment and Forest granted clearance for the proposal by the railways to acquire 40 acres of forest land for the construction of new line between Gadag and Wadi.
The 257-km stretch new Gadag-Wadi line was approved in 2014-15.However, there has been multiple hurdles during the construction of the railway line.
This new line is said to be a shorter alternative route between Gadag to Wadi over the existing railway routes of Gadag-Wadi via Guntakal and Gadag- Wadi via Hotgi.
However, the project needed to be located in the forest area and in its recent meeting, the regional empowered committee of Bengaluru has approved the proposal by the South Western Railways as the forest land falls in the arid zone of Karnataka with a moderate canopy density (0.1). Also, in return the Railways need to submit a plan for tree planting in the surrounding areas.
This railway line will be covering over four district, Koppal, Raichur, Yadgir and Kalburgi and passing through Major towns viz Yelburga, Kushtagi, Mudgal, Lingasagur, Shorapur and Shahpur and crosses two major rivers Krishna river and Bhima river.
