PANAJI
Goyant Kollso Naka on Friday submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Conservator of Forests, North Goa Division demanding a stay on the forest clearance given to stage II project of Tanmar transmission project which allows diversion of 69.41 ha of forest land for 400 KV Xeldem-Mapusa transmission line.
Goyant Kollso Naka in a letter on Friday to the DCF (North), the PCCF, the Forest Secretary and the Regional Office of MOEF&CC, Bengaluru has also demanded not to allow the felling of 18,000 trees for the subject project and to review the clearance which was granted on November 19, 2020.
The organisation has objected the environment clearance given to project in parts and has cited that the handbook of guidelines issued by the MOEF&CC in 2019 for effective implementation of Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 states under paragraph 11.2 on page 84 that “any proposal for linear projects such as roads, railway line, transmission line, need to be processed in their entirety for a comprehensive assessment of requirement of forest land and consequences if approval for any forest land is not granted.”
The memorandum also points out that Goa Tanmar has concealed the most important fact that the Forest Department of Karnataka has rejected the proposal.
"There are stretches of unidentified forests within the routes of the transmission lines from Xeldem to Mapusa. These forests must be first identified and included in the proposal for forest clearance for the entire project," the memorandum highlights.
The memorandum also raised a serious demand that a cumulative impact of all three projects should be studied together. "Proposals for double-tracking of the railway line from Tinaighat to Madgaon, four laning of NH-4A and the Transmission Lines to and within Goa must be evaluated together and a cumulative impact assessment done for the impact on the Bhagwan Mahavir National Park, Bhagwan Mahavir Wild Life Sanctuary, Anashi-Dandeli Tiger Reserve and the surrounding areas in Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra," the memorandum states.
