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Badlapur flooding: Central Railway to ask state to probe land grab
Updated On: 31 July, 2019 07:41 AM IST | Mumbai | Rajendra B Aklekar
mid-day impact: Rail officials to ask state government to crack down on those who altered a natural island for 'development'

Passengers were rescued from the Mahalaxmi Express in Badlapur on Saturday by the Indian Navy. Pic/PTI
The Central Railway on Tuesday said that they had taken note of the mid-day report on the quarrying of flood plains near Badlapur where the Mahalaxmi Express was stranded and that they shall take it up with the Maharashtra government and the appropriate local authorities. Experts had pointed out that alterations in land use had led to the problems of flooding on rail tracks. Raj Bhagat Palanichamy, who works as a GIS (Geographic Information System) and remote sensing analyst with World Resources Institute (WRI) India, had collated data and analysed what possibly could have gone wrong for so much waterlogging on the tracks.
Palanichamy studied the maps from 2003 and 2019 and found that the tracks are laid close to the floodplains of Ulhas river where a the natural island has been altered for "development". "The water levels there rose suddenly to unprecedented levels. A local train had passed by the stretch safely just a few minutes before this one. Even the Chennai Express had passed through the stretch before that, which is why we had allowed the Mahalaxmi Express to pass by," a senior CR official said. "We have taken note of the land use issue and will take it up immediately with the Maharashtra government and appropriate local authorities for them to take corrective action. This aspect has to be considered seriously," he added.
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