Hubballi: The Karnataka government has rejected, for the second time, the implementation of the controversial Goa-Tamnar 400 KV quad transmission line linear project within the Western Ghats and has asked the officials to recommend an alternative line outside the protected area.
The project, which is part of the Union government’s ‘one nation-one grid’, aims at providing uninterrupted power supply from Tamnar in Chhattisgarh to Xeldem, in Goa. Of the 75 km stretch in Karnataka, the transmission lines are proposed to pass through 38 km in territorial forest and 6.6 km in Kali Tiger Reserve.
In a strongly worded letter, the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) to Forest, Ecology and Environment Department has asked the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) not only to reject the Goa-Tamanar project but also to henceforth “nip in the bud” all the projects that would adversely impact ecology and wildlife conservation.
The ACS, in his March 16 letter, also instructed the PCCF to issue notices to the officials who recommended the project.
After the state rejected the project, citing that the lines pass through a virgin forest area, the Goa-Tamnar Transmission Project Limited, the project implementing agency, had approached the Central Empowered Committee and the Supreme Court.
Eventually, the agency agreed to realign the transmission line on the existing 220 KV KPTCL functional line from Ganeshgudi substation to Ponda substation.
However, the state government rejected the second proposal as well, as nearly 25,000 trees might still be felled.
Interestingly, the government’s rejection comes after two of the three chief conservators of forests (CCF), under whose jurisdiction the project would have been implemented, recommended the second proposal.
Senior officials say they recommended the project as there was a change in alignment and a reduction in the number of trees to be cut.
According to documents available with DH, The CCFs of Canara Circle and Dharwad have recommended the project.
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