Team Herald
PANJIM: Union Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy R K Singh on Wednesday informed Raj Sabha that the work of power transmission line, proposed to pass through Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary, has been held up pending decision of the Supreme Court.
In a written reply tabled in the House, Singh said no transmission element of Goa-Tamnar power transmission project is passing or located in the Mollem National Park. He however said that one of the elements of the project, covering area of 2.51kms is proposed to pass through Bhagwan Mahaveer wildlife sanctuary.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Luizinho Faleiro sought to know the status of the power line project passing through the Mollem wildlife sanctuary.
“No transmission element of Goa-Tamnar power transmission project is passing through or
located in Mollem National Park. However, one of the elements of the project, namely, LILO
of one circuit of Narendra (Existing) – Narendra (New) 400kV D/C Quad line at Xeldem, is proposed
to pass through Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary (2.51 kms), which is located in Mollem in
Goa,” the minister said.
Singh said the Supreme Court appointed Central Empower Committee (CEC), in its report submitted to the Court on April 23, last year, has recommended to take the proposed transmission line (namely LILO of one ckt of Narendra (Existing) – Narendra (New) 400kV D/C Quad line at Xeldem) utilising the route corridor of the existing 220 kv Ambewadi Ponda D/C line corridor of Goa, after constructing Xeldem New (Sangod) S/S-Mapusa 400 kV transmission line and 220 kV Xeldem New (Sangod)-Xeldem transmission line.
“Presently, the work is held up in the above section of the line, pending decision of the Supreme Court,” the minister said.
He said the implementation of this proposed line would provide a second 400 kv feed to Goa in
addition to the existing Kolhapur – Mapusa 400 kv D/C link (to be extended to Xeldem New
(Sangod) S/S) with the national grid and the link would enable Goa to meet their load even in case of outage of one of the existing 400 kv line
Placing on record the 19th Electric Power Survey (EPS) report, published in January 2017, the minister said the estimated peak electricity demand of Goa for the year 2026-27 and 2031-32 is expected to be around 1096 MW and 1361 MW respectively. The estimated electrical energy requirement (ex bus) of Goa for the year 2026-27 and 2031-32 would be around 6932 MU and 8170 MU respectively.
