THE SUPREME Court Thursday accepted the advice of the Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC) appointed by it to make use of the present 220 KV powerline alignment in Goa, as an alternative of chopping down recent forest cowl, to put 400 KV line as a part of the Goa-Tamnar Transmission Project.
Hearing a plea by NGO Goa Foundation, a bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, BR Gavai and Aniruddha Bose accepted the proposal made by the CEC in its April 23, 2021, report. The Committee had stated the transfer will “help save the previous forest cover and wildlife in the ecologically fragile and biodiversity rich Western Ghats”.
Advocate ADN Rao, who assisted the court docket as Amicus Curiae, stated the undertaking promoters had additionally agreed to simply accept the alignment proposed by the CEC and consequently, the alternate alignment cleared by the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife in April 2020 has been put aside. Senior Advocate CU Singh, who appeared for the undertaking promoters, stated it had urged the court docket to make clear which alignment it ought to comply with and that it was keen to undertake whichever is the “environmentally benign” alignment.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
