Karnataka to consider impact of Goa-Tamnar project on wildlife, ecology before seeking forest clearances: CEC

The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary (forest, ecology and environment) Jawaid Akhtar and principal chief conservator of forest (forest clearance) Vijay Sharma.

The Goa Tamnar Transmission Project pertains to laying a 400 KV D/C Quad Transmission line from Goa to Tamnar. The transmission line will start from Narendra village in Dharwad district, Karnataka and terminate at a substation at Xeldem in Goa. In Karnataka, the total length of the proposed route is 77.641 km. Out of this, 31.887 km is forest land and 6.61 km falls in the Anshi-Dandeli tiger reserve or Kali Tiger Reserve.

According to the minutes of the meeting dated April 17, the CEC said, “The Project Proponent has submitted three alternate alignments for drawing the 400 KV line falling in Karnataka. The CEC has not examined any of these proposed alignments in the State of Karnataka. In fact examination by the CEC was limited to the State of Goa only. A decision as to the most appropriate alignment for the proposed 400 kV transmission line in Karnataka will require to be taken by the State Government of Karnataka after considering the technical feasibility of drawing 400 kV line up to Narendra, the extent of forests involved and the number of trees to be cut in each of the three alignments and the impact of each of these options on the wildlife and ecology of the area.”

“Keeping in view the above the State Government may accordingly take a decision in this regard and thereafter recommend the proposal for diversion of the forest land under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 to the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change,” the CEC further said.

The project seeks diversion of 177.091 hectare of forest land spread across Dharwad, Belagavi and Uttara Kannada districts in Karnataka. Of 177.091 hectare, 101.74 hectare of forest is in Belagavi, 4.78 hectare in Dharwad and 70.55 hectare in Uttara Kannada.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court accepted the CEC recommendation to utilise the existing 220 kV power line alignment in Goa instead of cutting down fresh forest cover, to lay a new 400 kV line as part of the project. The court set aside the National Board for Wildlife’s permission to lay high tension power lines after clearing 10.5 km of virgin forest in the Western Ghats.

Wildlife conservationist Giridhar Kulkarni apprised the CEC through a letter on April 12 that there is no existing 220 kV alignment within Belagavi and a new line has to be laid for which the forest diversion would be huge.

In 2015, the Ministry of Power, envisaged the GTTPL to create an additional source of power for Goa. Subsequently, the decision to provide a new 400 kV substation in South Goa along with its interconnections with the Inter State Transmission System was discussed and approved in the various meetings convened by the Standing Committee on Power System Planning and Standing committees of Western Region and Southern Region in 2016.

The deputy conservator of forest of Kali Tiger Reserve, chief conservator of forests of the Kanara circle and conservator of forest of the Belagavi circle had recommended the rejection of the proposal in 2020.

Kulkarni said, “I welcome the decision of the CEC which is in the interest of Karnataka’s forest and wildlife. Now the proposal has to get both forest and wildlife clearances for Karnataka’s alignment which was our argument too. I am hopeful that both the state and Union governments reject this proposal which may prove detrimental to the Western Ghats.”