By Marcellus D’Souza
Apr 8: The people of Goa have won a major victory. Their persistence has paid off. The Supreme Court has passed an order that accepts the recommendation of the Central Empowered Committee’s (CEC) on the Tamnar project.
The apex court has ruled that the 440KV power line be set up should be along the existing 110 KV “since it does not have any trees”. The court in a 219-page order said that “no trees will have to be felled for the new line”.
This is a major victory for the people and the environmentalist who has doggedly pursued the Tamnar project and objected to the felling of trees under the guise of the project in the bio sensitive Morlem forest.
Claude Alvares, Director Goa Foundation, an environment NGO, said, “The public agitation was that the alignment through a virgin part of the wildlife sanctuary was bad and should not be allowed. The Supreme Court has accepted the decision of the CEC as being correct.” The Goa Foundation had moved the Supreme Court which had appointed CEC to examine the proposals cleared by the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife for the three projects in Goa.
A three-judge bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, Justice B R Gavai and Justice Aniruddha Bose studied the recommendations made by the CEC before handing down the judgment.
The Court heard detailed submissions from Amicus and Senior Advocate A D N Rao, Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan for Goa Foundation and Senior Advocate Chander Uday Singh.
The SC further adjourned the application of Goa Tamnar Transmission Project Ltd for permitting it to obtain a conversion sanad. The SC had decided earlier to hear the contempt petition before it heard the Tamnar application for the sanad, but took up the issue of CEC recommendation first.
When the Goa Foundation appeal was filed in 2015, the SC granted an interim stay restraining the Goa government from granting any conversion certificate for any plot of land in excess of one hectare and having a canopy density of 10% and above. That order is still in force.
The PIL filed by Goa Foundation and supported by landowners including Gajanan Vasant Sawaiker, Antonio Mario Barreto, Vishwasrao Desai, Vishwanath Krishna Deveshekar and Josephine Fernandes who had challenged the possible destruction of 22,140 trees on private lands in Sangod village.
The petitioners had stated that the Goa government is unaware of the alignment and the ecological and social havoc it involves, as the minutes of the expert body meetings of the Central Electricity Authority of India (CEA) at which the project was approved indicate that the Goa government remained unrepresented.
The SC had appointed the CEC upon an application filed by the Goa Foundation. The CEC was empowered to examine the proposals cleared by the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (SC-NBWL) for the three projects in Goa - double-tracking of the railway line from Castle Rock in Karnataka to Kulem in Goa, four-laning of a National Highway 4, and the Goa-Tamnar Transmission Project, which will cut through the Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary (BMWS) and the Mollem National Park (MNP).
The CEC had raised serious concern over the double-tracking of the railway line stating that the project would “destroy the fragile eco-system of the Western Ghats and had recommended that the project be scrapped.
On the Goa-Tamnar 440KV power line, the CEC had recommended that the alignment be done along the existing powerline so that fresh forest areas are not disturbed.
The CEC had allowed for the four-laning of the Highway with further recommendation that animal corridors be expanded and that the highway is elevated in places where animal crossings are frequent.