BIODIVERSITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT Project Description The Indian Railways (IR) is the third largest railway network of over 64,000 route kilometre has integrated markets and connected communities across the length and breadth of the country. IR operates 12,000 passenger trains and 7,000 freight trains every day. It transports 2.8 million tons of freight traffic and 30 million passengers every day. According to Vision 2020 document of the Ministry of Railways, Government of India (2009) the Indian Railways would strive to add 25,000 km of new lines by 2020, supported by governments funding and a major increase in Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). The Indian Railways is the lifeline of the nation and the economic growth is highly dependent upon the Rail Transportation Capacity. Growth in economy leading to surge in power, demand, booming infrastructure, construction and growing international trade along existing Eastern and western Routes has led to the demand for additional capacity for rail freight transportation. The DFCCIL core objective is to create world-class rail infrastructure with advanced technology to improve overall transport efficiency. To offer guaranteed, faster transit, energy efficient, environment friendly transport to customers. To reduce the unit cost of transport logistics. In the first phase, Government of India has approved construction of two corridors – the Eastern DFC (1841 route Km) and Western DFC (1500 route Km) – spanning a total length of about 3341 route Km. The Eastern Corridor, starting from Dankuni in West Bengal is passing through the states West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and terminate at Ludhiana in Punjab. The Western Corridor will traverse the distance from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai – Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT), passing through the states of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Once completed, the Dedicated Freight Corridor will enable Indian Railways to improve its customer orientation and meet market needs more effectively. Creation of Rail infrastructure on such a scale – unprecedented in independent India, is also expected to drive the establishment of industrial corridors and logistic parks along its alignment. The proposed corridor will provide safe, faster and economical mode of transportation exclusively for goods.The proposed railway track is also strategic since passing though the Left Wing Extremism districts. Dedicated Freight Corridor in the Eastern Corridor is planned between Dankuni to Ludhiana to help cater to the freight on this route. The section between Dankuni to Sonnagar is proposed to be implemented through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode for which appropriate PPP model is being developed by DFCCIL . The Total length of the section is 255.581 kilometres . Dankuni to Gomoh is an important section of Delhi-Howrah double line electrified main trunk route of Indian Railway connecting the Northern, Central and Eastern regions of the country. The proposed alignment traverses on North side of existing Indian Railways(IR) track throughout the section except for Koderma -Paharpur section where detour has been proposed.. Due to the technical constraints construction of DFC track along the existing IR track in between Koderma- Paharpur section is not feasible. Entire terrain is mostly plain terrain except hill portion of Chota Nagpur ranges in Koderma detour. The proposed Koderma detour section from km 123.600 to km 180.000 is a part of Eastern Corridor of the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation Limited passing through Hazaribagh & Koderma district in Jharkhand State and Gaya district in Bihar. In Hazaribagh district the proposed alignment of Koderma detour starts at km 148.210, Village, Khairatanr and terminates at km 157.500, village Garmorwa under Hazaribagh Wildlife Division, Hazaribagh . The proposed alignment from km km 148.210 to 149.000, 149.000 to 152.062, 152.062 to152.832, 153.100 to154.280 & 154.660 to 157.500 (Total 8.64 km, Area-82.8 ha) in Hazaribagh district falls under Gautam Budha Widlife Sanctuary. The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation alignment between Dankuni-Sonnagar section runs parallel along the north side of Grand Chord section (Howrah-New Delhi route).However in Koderma (Jharkhand)-Manpur (Bihar) Gaya section wherein the existing gradients between Gurpa- Gujhandi sections are varying from 1 in 80 to 1 in 400 and therefore taking DFC line parallel to existing Grand Chord line with desired gradient 1 in 200 is not possible. Hence it has been proposed to go on Detour Alignment (Proposed Koderma Detour) with gradient of 1 in 200 and avoid Gurpa- Gujhandi section. Four detour alignments have been studied with gradient 1 in 200 and of varying lengths on either side of Koderma-Manpur section. All the four studied alignment are passing through the Gautam Budha Wildlife Sanctuary and Forest Area requiring prior Wildlife Clearance and Forest Clearance from Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change.However due to serious gradient constraints on hilly terrain along the existing Grand Chord section of Indian Railways track and other three alignments were not found technically feasible. Four villages (Khairatanr, Mainukhar, Bukar and Garmorwa) under the proposed alignment are falling within Gautam Budha Wildlife Sanctuary notified vide S.O 1485 dated 14-09-1976.The construction of proposed alignment through the Gautam Budha Wildlife Sanctuary would require 82.8 ha land in Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand. Alternate Alignment of Koderma Detour Based on detailed study of surrounding, topography of the area and local geographical features, best options were selected for the feasibility of running detours. Four (4) routes or alignments were found to be the best for detours. Others routes were found to be further longer with more length in Sanctuary area, involvement of more forest area and cost of project increasing tremendously. All the four studied alignments are passing through the Gautam Budha Wildlife Sanctuary requiring prior Wildlife Clearance from MoEF&CC . However due to serious gradient constraints on hilly terrain along the existing Grand Chord section of Indian Railways track and other three alignments were not found technically feasible. The construction of the proposed DFC alignments through the proposed Koderma Detour is the only feasible and least obstructive option as far as the technical and engineering aspects are concerned which requires the minimum Forest Land under the proposed alignment. However attempts were made to minimize the impact in the Wildlife Sanctuary area. As Wildlife Sanctuary is extends on both sides of the existing IR track, no detour without passing through Gautam Budha Wildlife Sanctuary is possible. As far as technical and engineering aspects are concerned there are no other suitable alternative for the new construction as the Sanctaury area extends on the either side of the proposed alignment. Existing Grand Cord line of E.C.Railway is also passing through Wildlife Sanctuary from Railway Chainage 406.50 (between Lalbagh and Dilwa stations) to Railway Chainage 420.72 (between Baskata and Yadugram stations). Total length of Wildlife Sanctuary through which existing Grand Cord Line of E.C.Railway is passing is approx 14.22 kms. Hence, construction of DFCC track even if parallel to Grand Cord Line (if possible) will also pass through Wildlife Sanctuary. Out of detailed survey study of four (4) routes for detours, the proposed alignment was found to be shortest in lengths, with least length of tunnels required, with lowest length of any tunnel required, with least no. of major bridges, with least coverage of Sanctuary area and with least involvement of Sanctuary Land for construction of DFCC tracks. All four (4) routes were found to have passed through Gautam Budha Wildlife Sanctuary and Protected Forest Land. Bare minimum land in Gautam Budha Wildlife Sanctuary area is required in the proposed alignment. This will also cause least obstructions in wildlife at all stages of DFCC existence. The same will also impact felling of least number of trees, resulting in minimum loss of floral assests of the Sanctuary. Upon further study of details, it was detected that total earthwork involvement in the proposed alignment would be least and hence, there would be least hinderance / obstruction and disturbance to Wildlife in Sanctuary area during construction stage and also during maintenance / running stage. Moreover, as per floral studies carried out by “Botanical Survey of India” (BSI, Kolkata) no rare floral species were detected in the alignment of proposed alignment for DFCC. The proposed alignment involves minimum displacement to people and structures and minimum acquisition of Forest land. Detailed study on ‘Construction of Dedicated Freight Corridor through Gautam Budha Wildlife Sanctuary’ is being undertaken by Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. On overall basis, it is also estimated that the cost of the project in case of proposed alignment will be at least and the same is found to be less by approx 330 Crores as compared to the nearest alignment in the same portion. Similarly, the involvement of Wildlife Sanctaury land is approx. 50% more in the nearest alignment as compared to the proposed alignment. The project authorities have a great concern about the mitigation measures to be adopted for the Protected area under Sanctuary. In order to ensure the compensation the cost of Escrow Fund, Wildlife Mitigation Measures, Site Specific Management Plan , Net Present Value (NPV), Compensatory Afforestation (CA) and any other site specific management measures as suggested by the National Wildlife Board, MOEFCC and Chief Wildlife Warden, Jharkhand will be adopted in letter and spirit by the DFCCIL and cost for the same will be deposited before the execution of the project. The DFCCIL aims at to follow a low carbon path adopting various technologies options which can help DFCCIL to operate in energy efficient way. The implementation of the DFCC is expected to generate two major impacts namely: (a)Shift of freight from road to the low carbon-intensive mode-rail transport and (b)Improvement in energy efficiency of freight rail through adoption of improved technologies.