PIL filed at Calcutta HC against Adani Power’s high-tension electricity lines in Farakka

Kolkata, Jan 31 (IANS) A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed at a division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday against installation of high-tension electricity lines by an Adani Group-owned power plant at Farakka in Murshidabad district.

The high-tension electricity lines were being set up there by the Adani Group-owned power plant as part of a project stretching from Jharkhand’s Godda district to Bangladesh, as mandated by a bilateral trade agreement.

A division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bhradwaj admitted the petition filed by the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) and 30 fruit farmers in the Farakka region. The matter will come up for hearing on February 7.

The petitioners have stated in the PIL that since the majority of the people in the area through which the high-tension electricity lines will pass are dependent on mango and lychee farming, the overhead lines will impact their livelihood.

They have claimed that these overhead high-tension electricity lines are passing over the mango and lychee gardens and hence their location should be replaced to alternative areas.

They have also claimed that previously too, they had protested against this development but were beaten up by the police.

–IANS

src/arm