SC okays IOC, Adani pipelines to pass Gujarat sanctuary

The Supreme Court (SC) has given green signal to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Adani Power for usage of the reserved forestland in the Wild Ass Sanctuary inGujarat. IOC had sought SC's permission for using 21.006 hectare of marshy forestland for laying underground oil pipeline.
A Central-Empowered Committee was appointed by the court; the committee came to a conclusion that the IOC plea could be considered if the company complied with certain conditions.
Apart from this, the court has also given its approval to Adani Power Limited for using 89.73 hectare of land for construction of the Mundra-Mahendragarh 500 kV and the Mundra-Dehgam 400 kV double-circuit transmission lines passing through the sanctuary.
IOC has agreed to stick to these conditions, so the company will now go ahead and lay an underground pipeline in the sanctuary. After this, IOC will have to now get an approval under the Forest Conservation Act and deposit 5 per cent of the project cost for the portion falling in the sanctuary. This amount will be used for the construction and protection works in the sanctuary.

Source: SC okays IOC, Adani pipelines to pass Gujarat sanctuary