Petition moved against Adani plant’s installation of power lines in Farakka

An Indian civil rights group yesterday petitioned the Calcutta High Court to stop installation of power transmission lines at Farakka in West Bengal's Murshidabad by an Adani Group-owned power plant, from where electricity is to be supplied to Bangladesh.

The transmission lines were being set up by the Adani Group-owned power plant in Godda of Jharkhand state to transport electricity through West Bengal.

A division bench of the Calcutta High Court comprising Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bhradwaj accepted the petition filed by Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) and 30 fruit farmers in Farakka. The hearing is likely to be on February 7.

The petitioners have stated in the public interest litigation that since a majority of the people in the area through which the electricity lines will pass are dependent on mango and lychee farming, the lines will impact their livelihood.

They have claimed that the power lines are passing over mango and lychee gardens and hence the lines should be relocated.

They have also stated that they had protested against this development in the past but were beaten up by the police.

Bangladesh's state minister for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid earlier visited the 1,600MW Godda power plant in early January and told Indian media that his country will begin receiving electricity from the plant from the middle of March this year.