Photo: Collected-
Metropolis Desk-
Tuesday, January 31, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court received a public interest litigation (PIL) objecting to the building of high-tension electricity lines by the Adani Group-owned power station at Farakka in the Indian state of Murshidabad.
According to Indian media, the high-tension electricity lines are being installed there by the power plant owned by the Adani Group as part of a project extending from Jharkhand’s Godda district to Bangladesh, as required by a bilateral trade deal.
From March, electricity from Adani’s 1,600 MW Godda Power Plant is anticipated to be exported to Bangladesh.
The petition submitted by the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) and 30 fruit producers in the Farakka region was accepted by a division bench consisting of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bhradwaj.
The matter will be heard on February 7th, according to the timetable.
The PIL’s petitioners claim that because the majority of the residents in the area where the high-tension electrical lines will run are dependent on the production of mango and lychees, the overhead power lines will negatively affect their way of life.
These high-tension overhead power lines, according to the farmers, should be installed in different places because they currently cross over lychee and mango gardens.
They have further claimed that when they earlier protested the development, the police beat them up.
