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Analyzing the development of Konkan Railways amidst controversies as the impetus for growth
Ritendra Sankar Biswas 2010A1PS432P
Submitted to Prof. Tathagato Chakraborty DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES AND LANGUAGES BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCES, PILANI
APRIL, 2014
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PILANI CAMPUS
Table of contents
Abstract
1. Background of the Konkan Railways 1.1The Foundation stone 1.2 The Challenges 1.3 The Controversies 2. Objective and hypothesis 3. Regional growth after economic reforms Konkan Railway Corporation: Analysis of the growth amidst controversies and the impact on the development 3.1 Alignment through Goa 3.2 Controversial issues of the alignment 3.3 Justice Oza Commission 4. Konkan Railways Operations 4.1The reticent years 4.2Ro-Ro Services on Konkan Railway 4.3The recent years 5. Conclusion References
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Abstract
The case study on Konkan Railways traces the history of Konkan Railways since its conceiving to the completion. The construction of the line through Goa to connect the ports of Mumbai and Mangalore was faced by controversies regarding the alignment of the line which as in the initial stages was disrupting a major part of the Goa ecological system, mangroves, parks and was inherently passing through heritage sites of Old Goa. The garb of protest against the alignment of tracks also caused tensions between the Hindu dominated North Goa and the Christian dominated South Goa. The in juncture held by KRRAC against KRC in the Bombay High Court caused the KRC debts over Rs.100 crores and was repealed by the Bombay High Court citing the claims lacking foundation and minimalizing the damage as the issue of hinterland alignment was to cost the KRC a loss of Rs 100 crores. The court finally under the Oza Commission gave the green signal with some alterations on the route and mostly resettlement of zones. The report traces the reticent years, which forced KRC to imply innovative methods and advertisements to direct a newer traffic from Rajasthan and Gujarat and successful implementation of Ro-Ro services. The miscalculations of the KC in the survey added years to break- even point and added a loan incurred and interest accrued debts of over Rs.3300 crores to the KRC. The table for the freight services and the recorded profits were also traced in for the recent years , which showed that KRC as of in the fiscal year 2012 is running in profits. The recent census did justify the loss of ecology with the aided urban growth and accelerated urbanization with the advent of KRC in the region. The report thus outlines the growth of KRC from a vision to a step in the future by aiding to spread of SEZs in the region.
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The Challenges
The team under Mr. Sreedharan had no clue as to what terrain they will be facing, adding onto the formidability. They had no survey for the entire stretch of Maharashtra, which was to cover half the length of the project. A major challenge in the area was land acquisition as circa 43000 landowners had to be negotiated with. But though land related lawsuits are common in the Konkan, when KRCL began persuading people to give up property that had belonged to their
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families for generations, many gave it up voluntarily, convinced of the importance of the project. This enabled the entire process to be completed in just a year. The challenges were posed by the terrain and the elements also. Frequent Flash floods, landslides and tunnel collapses affected work at many places on the project. The region was thickly forested, and construction sites were often plagued by wild animals. Despite these problems, work on the project continued, with the effective system of decentralization, which enabled better efficiency. The entire stretch of 740 kilometres was divided into seven sectors Mahad, Ratnagiri north, Ratnagiri south, Kudal, Panaji, Karwar and Udupi - of approximately 100 km each, headed by a Chief Engineer. Contracts for the project were awarded to a few of the biggest and most reputed construction firms, including Larsen and Toubro, Gammon India and AFCONS. Several innovative practices were adopted to enable quicker construction. Piers for major bridges were cast on the riverbanks and launched using cranes mounted on pontoons. This technique of incremental launching of bridge spans was used for the first time in India. Since it would take too long to complete the project using locally available tunneling technology, nine hydraulic tunneling machines were imported from Sweden in order to bore through the hard rock of the Sahayadris. The biggest challenge, however, came from the nine tunnels that had to be bored through soft soil. The work had to be carried out through a painstakingly slow manual process for no technology was built to suffice the process. Excavation was almost impossible due to the clayey soil that was saturated with water owing to a high water table in the region. Several times tunnels collapsed immediately after they had been dug, necessitating the whole work to be redone. Nineteen lives and four years were lost while constructing the soft soil tunnels alone. In all, seventy-four people perished during the construction of the line.
The Controversies
The Konkan Railway also had its share of controversies. The biggest one arose in the state of Goa, concerning the stretch of 105 kilometres (65 mi) of the route, where serious questions were raised against the detrimental environmental and economic impact of the line on the state. The voices against the project were concerned that the proposed alignment, passing through the coastal regions of the state, would cause destruction of ecology on a large scale, damage to historical sites and would possibly disrupt the lifestyles of people on a large scale living in the densely populated coastal region of the state. The voices came together under the umbrella organisation called the Konkan Railway Re-Alignment Committee (KRRAC) in 1991, and they organised protests against the proposed alignment of the railway tracks.
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The main points of focus of the KRRAC were that the existing alignment would cause flooding in coastal regions, destroy the fertile Khazan lands, harm the monuments of Old Goa, cause irreparable damage to the marshes and mangrove swamps along the coastline and estuaries of the Mandovi and Zuari rivers, backwater rivers of Goa and result in the large-scale displacement of neighbourhoods along the coastal belt through which it will pass. The KRRAC thus proposed an alternative alignment for the line, known as the Hinterland alignment, to offset the fore raised problems. According to the hinterland alignment, the new line will be passing through the relatively unpopulated regions of the state, which rendered the route longer by about 25 kilometres , but according to the KRRAC, the alignment would significantly minimise the damage caused to the environment.
The hinterland alignment was rejected by the Konkan Railway Corporation on the grounds that it would involve substantial diversion of the line, causing disruption in the deadline, escalating the costs towards the project and most importantly would deny rail access to the major towns of the state. By then, the KRRAC had grown to become a political movement, which was backed by the powerful Church and certain political parties of the region. In March 1992, it filed for public interest litigation in the Bombay High Court, seeking an injunction on the construction work and a diversion of the line through the hinterland alignment. In the complaint, it raised all the issues that had been brought up earlier. The High Court dismissed the litigation in April 1992. The grounds of the rejection were the credibility of the foundation of the claim of the petitioners that the alignment would have devastating and irreversible impact upon the khazan lands. The huge dimensions of the project and the convenience it was to cause after being operationally active was taken as grounds to compare the damage as negligible. The controversy also appeared to be taking the form of a nasty inter-community and interregional fight between the Hindu-dominated regions of North Goa and Christian dominated population of South Goa. The additional costs due to the interruption of the construction work would be at least Rs 10 lakh per day as interest on borrowed loans as per calculated by the authorities. Further, the project completion was most likely to be delayed from the already much touted October 1994 deadline, since the work stoppage was during the summer, the prime working season. The issues regarding the Konkan Railway alignment had got increasingly complicated over a period of time. It was soon deduced as per the problem was not by passing of the Konkan Railways through Goa, but the choice of alignment of the tracks among the many possible alternatives available.
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Konkan Railway Corporation: Analysis of the growth amidst controversies and the impact on the development
Alignment through Goa
The Konkan Railway line entered Goa in the north near Pernem and left the state after Loliem, the total route length in Goa being 104.9 km. The location of the stations are listed as follows:
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The first survey of the alignment in the Goa sector was done in 1970-71, when the Konkan Railway was first proposed. This alignment was to run through the foothills from the Maharashtra border until Margao, where it would meet the existing metre gauge line. From thereon, it was parallel and was too close to the coast till the Karnataka border. It was to pass through Pernem, Asnoda, Bicholim, Fonda, Shiroda, Raia, Margao, Balli, Canacona and a part of Cotigao wildlife sanctuary. Panaji and Mapusa were not touched in this alignment. Therefore, a branch line taking off from Asnoda through Mapusa to Panaji, stopping on the northern bank of Mandovi river was suggested along with the current line. The prime consideration was to avoid crossing of Zuari and Mandovi rivers near their junctions with the sea. Since substantial developments had taken place after 1972 such as extensive mining in the PaliSankhli belt and building activities along the existing roads and NH17, the Central Railways initial alignment proposal would interfere with the mining operations and would pass through inhabited areas requiring extensive acquisition of houses for construction and displacement of the local population. In 1986- 87, the Southern Railway proposed the Konkan Railway alignment through Mapusa, Panaji, Margao and Canacona, almost all along the coast. Their main aim was to bring the state capital on the main line itself rather than put Panaji on the branch line. The State Government accepted this alignment . In 1990, after the KRC was formally set up, it commenced detailed field surveys to acquire land along the 1986-87 alignment. The field survey resulted in changes to the alignment. The modified alignment was somewhere between the alignments suggested by the Central and Southern Railways. It was felt that an alignment passing through Mapusa and Panaji was not desirable and, therefore, it was shifted through Ponda as originally chosen by the Central Railway. On the southern sector, the alignment was shifted towards the coast to avoid the Cotigao wildlife sanctuary. The alignment was again shifted to the west of Ponda (and closer to Panaji) at the request of the State Government. This was the final KRC proposed alignment.
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Settlements and Churches of Old Goa: The present alignment passed through densely populated areas of Salcete, Margao, and Quepem. This was expected to result in changes in the socio-cultural lifestyles of the residents of various villages. The alignment would cut across road networks and cause vibrations and noise pollution. Fears were also expressed regarding the high probability of slums growing along the tracks. The protest groups also feared possible damage to the churches in old Goa, since the current alignment ran close to many of them. The most notable was the 400 year old 'World Heritage Site' of St. Francis Xavier's church, whose location was 1.5 km from the alignment. Wildlife Sanctuaries: It was feared that wildlife, reptiles, and birds may get affected due to excessive disturbance as a result of human and machinery movements during construction and noise pollution during the operation. However, the present alignment did not pass through any notified sanctuaries.
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The completion date was postponed from October 1994 to March 1995 to account for the duration of the work stoppage. Further, KRC also distinguished between the time of introduction of freight services arid passenger services, the latter requiring more stringent conditions on the track. The March '95 deadline was for freight services while passenger services would be introduced from October 1995. The total project cost was revised to Rs 2,050 crore including Rs 300 crore as interest charges incurred during the construction stage. Of this, the equity contribution of the Central Government and the four participating states would be Rs 600 crore. KRC was expected to pay back loans (of Rs 1450 crore) within ten years of commencement of operation through the profits earned from operations.
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project management and tunneling expertise to bid and construct similar projects like tunnel segments in the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. They have also business plans for the area of urban transportation.
On a capital of Rs 1,700 lakhs, the net surplus expected was Rs 2,004 lakhs per annum. In contrast to the above, new wagon flats had not yet been invested in. They were hired from the IR, like the locos. There were also expenses on fixed assets to the tune of Rs 73.31 lakhs. The actual revenue and expenses for the period 26/01/99 to 31/05/00 (16 months) was as
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follows:
Source: Konkan Railways citations from the Annual report of KRC Ltd, March 1998, posted as in Vikalpa: Jan- Mar, 2000.
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Konkan Railway, which earned Rs 725 crore in 2008-09, has also registered a growth of 8% as compared to the previous year from 2854 million to 3080 million. There was a marginal increase in number of freight trains also. Financial highlights of Konkan Railway Corporation for financial year 2012-13 Total Income Rs.1,136 crore Total expenditure Rs.963 crore Operating profit Rs. 173 crore Net loss Rs. 236 crore Net worth Rs. 1340 crore Accumulated loss Rs. 3546 crore Total outstanding Loan Rs.1667 crore Number of employees 4785 Income per employee Rs.23 lakh
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Conclusion
Cost of the Konkan Railways to the ecology
The advent of Konkan Railways saw the increase in deforestration in the Goa coast by upto 12% in 2007-08 survey by IISc, Bangalore. The anti development stance give to KRRAC by the Bombay High Court paved way to Lavasa city development clearing away 12,500 hectares of Vedant forest cover and the acquisition of 33 SEZ since the 1990-91. The Khazan Land declined by 30 hectares and aided the mining corporations to be invited in a huge bulk and thus aid the loss of fertile lands.
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References
Vikalpa, Vol. 20, No. 3, July-September 1995 www.wikipedia.org Communication from Konkan Railway, Mumbai, 2000 (Regarding Ro-Ro Services on Konkan Railway Infrastructure Development and Its Environmental Impact: Study of Konkan Railway, Prabha Shastri Ranade Business Standard, Moday , April 14, 2014. Annual report of KRC Ltd. 1/19/2014.
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