The Indian Railways has ordered an inquiry into the alignment of a railway line between Panna and Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh, terming it “dangerous” due to six sharp turns.
A new route is under planning stage, and the inquiry will identify individuals responsible for significant environmental loss—54,578 trees were cut to begin construction of the proposed railway line—and planning missteps that occurred before the project received forest approval.
The Khajuraho-Panna rail link, costing about ₹2,100 crore, was approved in 2021, and in 2025, the railways said the construction would start soon.
A three-member technical committee has been constituted to investigate who designed the original route, why flaws went unnoticed in 2021, and why alignment was altered after crores had already been spent and thousands of trees felled.
The new route, which is being finalised, is expected to be a kilometre away from the scrapped alignment, and about 230 hectares of forest land will be needed, with an initial estimate of about 50,000 additional trees to be cut.
