QUESTIONABLE PROCESSES and clearances are now under scrutiny, resulting in a pause on the key section of a proposed Rs 1,500-crore power transmission network for supply from Chhattisgarh to Goa, a 400kV line crossing the Western Ghats through Karnataka.
The central project is designed to evacuate power from the Raigarh pool to energy-deficient Goa and was allotted to Goa Tamnar Transmission Project Limited (GTTPL), an SPV allotted to Sterlite Power, in November 2017.
Since then, environment lawyers and officials say, the company has broken up the mega grid into “piecemeal, low-impact projects”, instead of a “cumulative” whole, while seeking environment approvals under various laws.
