PANJIM: The High Courta of Bombay at Goa has denied interim relief to Yeshwant Hari Gawas and 29 others, who sought a stay on constructing foundations for towers to lay taahe High Tension Transmission Line under the Goa Tamnar Transmission Project.
The Division Bench comprising Justice M S Karnik and Justice Valmiki Menezes ruled that the construction of the towers can proceed but will be subject to the final outcome of the petition.
The High Court noted that the petitioner haacd not a the District Magistrate’s order apassed in March 2014 under the Indian Telegraph Act regarding the survey numbers owned by him, which influenced its decision.
The Court also observed that the project was of public importance.
The petitioners had prayed to staay thea ongoing works on grounds that it will cause destruction to their agricultural properties and further that work was carried out without the obtaining permission under the Indian Telegraph Act. But the court allowed construction of the works through the properties of petitioners subject to the outcome of the writ petition.
The Tamnar power project entails the laying of 240 kms of transmission lines and one high-power sub-station aiming to strengthen the current grid network. This project passes through the heavy dense forest of the Western Ghats in Goa and Karnataka.
Earlier, Power Minister Ramkrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar had claimed that the Goa Tamnar Power Transmission Project is required for the State as it was capable of handling 1,200 MW of power and would be completed by August this year.
He had said that the Tamnar power project was required for the State given the increasing power requirement, which had increased to 820 MW this year as against 780 MW of power last year. “Goa’s power demand is increasing and during the next five years additional 330 MW of power would be required, and the Tamnar power line infrastructure was capable of handling 1,200 MW power,” he had said.
