The Ministry of Environment’s Regional Empowered Committee has raised fresh concerns about the Wildlife Institute of India’s impact assessment for the proposed railway double-tracking through the Western Ghats.

A key government body has pushed back on a Wildlife Institute of India (WII) environmental assessment for a controversial railway expansion through Goa’s protected forests, marking a significant development in the long-running #SaveMollem campaign.

At a meeting held on 26 March 2026, the Regional Empowered Committee (REC) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) flagged the WII’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed doubling of the railway line through Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary, Mollem National Park, and Kali Tiger Reserve. The REC noted that the report was limited to recommending mitigation measures rather than offering a comprehensive assessment of the project’s ecological impact within Protected Areas.

The REC has further directed that the EIA be placed before the State Board for Wildlife (SBWL), the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), or the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) before it is returned for the REC’s consideration.

The campaign group behind mymollem.goa, which has documented alleged gaps in the WII report over several months, welcomed the REC’s findings as a validation of their concerns. Their latest campaign update identifies missing or misreported data across four faunal categories: birds, reptiles and amphibians, freshwater fish, and insects and arachnids.

The WII’s assessment covers a rail corridor that passes through the Western Ghats — a globally recognised biodiversity hotspot. WII did not immediately respond to IWN’s request for comments.

The Mollem railway project and the status of the EIA will continue to be monitored by IWN.