Karnataka rejects Goa power project over environmental concerns

In a strongly worded letter, the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) to Forest instructed the PCCF to issue notices to the officials who recommended the project.

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.

Implementation of the project would have resulted in the loss of 35,445 trees in Haliyal division and 10,810 trees in the Dandeli Wildlife Division. Dandeli is part of the Kali Tiger Reserve. The landscape is home to tigers, leopards, Indian gaurs, spotted deer, sloth bears, king cobras, hornbills, and castle rock night frogs, which are endemic to this area.

On the other hand, the Belagavi chief conservator of forests rejected the project on the grounds that the transmission lines would pass through the elephant corridor. Around 100 hectare of forest land or nearly 23,996 trees of various species would be cut in the division if implemented.

Environmentalists say the project implementation will result in the removal of native vegetation in forest areas and would result in fragmentation of forests, loss of natural habitat, increase human-wildlife conflict, wildlife corridor and avifauna habitat.

Giridhar Kulkarni, a wildlife conservationist who has filed several petitions opposing the project, said, “There are already several linear projects in this eco-sensitive area, including railway, highway and others. The transmission line will further fragment the forest.”

ACS N Manjunath Prasad said he has asked the forest officials to look for an alternative route for the transmission line. “We have rejected the project as it would result in the large-scale destruction of trees,” he said.