Petition filed against Adani's thermal power project for Bangladesh at Kolkata HC

A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed at a division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday (31 January) against the installation of high-tension electricity lines by the Adani Group-owned power plant at Farakka in the Murshidabad district of India.

The high-tension electricity lines are 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, reports Indian media.

Adani's Godda 1,600MW Power Plant, currently under construction, is expected to start exporting electricity to Bangladesh from March. 

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 has been scheduled to come up for a hearing on 7 February.

In the PIL, the petitioners have stated 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.

The farmers 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 the development but were beaten up by the police.