Plants 9,367 trees, conducts drive in coordination with Forest Dept, student community of State
Panaji
In their afforestation drive, the Goa-Tamnar Transmission Project Limited (GTTPL) has planted 9,367 trees various areas including Sankhali (Goa Institute of Management), Usgaon, Sangod, and Codar in the land allocated by the Goa Forest Department. The tree planting is carried out with the help of the forest department and the student community of Goa.
For the Sangod substation that the project is constructing, 2,670 trees were cut on private land (substation) for which all necessary permissions were accorded by the Goa Forest Department.
As per the compensatory afforestation rules of the Forest Department, GTTPL is expected to plant three times the number of trees felled, which stood at 8,010. The project, however, has planted a total of 9,367 trees which is more than what was mandated.
Further, the soil composition of the land provided by the Forest Department for the compensatory afforestation was primarily laterite which was not conducive for tree plantation.
GTTPL reclaimed this land through the addition of conducive topsoil and drip irrigation arrangements to ensure proper growth of all the fruit-bearing trees planted as part of the plantation drive.
GTTPL has also taken utmost caution and care, right from project planning to mitigation, to put together a thoughtfully optimized route for the 400kV Xeldem – Narendra LILO Transmission Line. The route was chosen to avoid the Mollem National Park completely and only involves a minimal unavoidable passage of 2.51 km through Bhagwan Mahaveer sanctuary.
The project will enhance the current power transmission capacity, quality and reliability which will boost industrial and commercial activities, especially the tourism industry.
Power shortage is a major impediment for development and growth for Goa’s economy. The Goa Tamnar Transmission Project Limited (GTTPL) project is an Inter-State Transmission System envisaged by Ministry of Power in 2015 to create an additional source of power for Goa and ensure that the region is self-sufficient in terms of energy requirements.
GTTPL is made up of five related but functionally independent power elements, as conceptualized by the Ministry of Power. These are -- 400kV D/c Xeldem – Mapusa Transmission Line, 400/220kV Substation at Sangod, 220kV Xeldem – Xeldem Transmission Line, 400kV D/c Xeldem – Narendra Transmission LILO Line, and 765kV D/c Dharamjaigarh – Tamnar Transmission line. On completion, it will form a complete ring viz, Mapusa > Kolhapur > Narendra > Xeldem> Mapusa ensuring reliable power for both North and South Goa districts.
