Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed train corridor & Sanjay Gandhi National Park
What is the News?
- A committee, chaired by Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan, has accorded wildlife clearance to the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed train corridor that encroaches upon a flamingo sanctuary and the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, the home to leopards, in Mumbai.
- The proposal involves diversion of 3.2756 ha of forestland from the Thane Creek Flamingo Wildlife Sanctuary and 97.5189 ha of land close to the boundary of the forest’s protected area.
Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed train corridor
- The project for one of India’s first ‘bullet trains’ was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in Ahmedabad in September, 2017.
- It is expected to be ready by 2022 and It will be India’s first high-speed rail line.
- Largely funded by a soft loan by Japan, the Rs 1 trillion Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project has a track-length of 508 km, and will originate at the Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai and terminate at the Sabarmati, in Gujarat.
Sanjay Gandhi National Park
- Sanjay Gandhi National Park, a protected area near Mumbai in Maharashtra.
- It was formerly known as Borivali National Park.
- It is notable as one of the major national parks existing within a metropolis limit and is one of the most visited parks in the world.
- The National Park is home to a number of endangered species of flora and fauna and harbours approximately 800 species of flowering plants, 45 species of mammals, 43 species of reptiles among others.
Flamingo sanctuary
- The Maharashtra Government has declared the area along the western bank of the Thane Creek as the ‘Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary’.
- Thane Creek is home to flamingos as well as other migratory and residential bird species.
- It is Maharashtra’s second marine sanctuary after the one at Malvan.
Thane Creek has been recognized as an Important Bird Area by the Bombay Natural History Society, as it is home to various avian species