Abstract:
This chapter examines the ecological impact of the construction and expansion of the Assam Bengal Railway in the Indian Himalayan Region. It sheds light on how the Government of India and the Government of Assam overrode objections raised by the Forest Department to allow the indiscriminate felling of trees and clearing of forests, both reserved and unreserved, in order to create space for the expansion of the railways in the region. The chapter also dwells on the violation of the customary rights of the people inhabiting the land vacated or given over to the railways for their use.