Chennai, Nov 23: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has sought the intervention of Prime Minister A B Vajpayee for early approval of a power transmission line through the reserved forest areas of the Nilgris and Coimbatore districts of the state to transmit power from the 150 MW capacity pykara ultimate stage hydro electric project. In a letter to the Prime Minister, a copy of which was released to the press today, Jayalalithaa said the project, which commenced during July, 1995, had reached the completion stage and was likely to be commissioned in march next year. Electricity to be generated from the Rs 383 crore project, out of which Rs 340 crore has been spent so far, has to be transmitted by an 85 km long transmission line which traverses 13.42 km only in the reserved forest areas of the Nilgris and Coimbatore districts. The power generating station was in the midst of the reserved forest area of the Nilgris district.

The proposal of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, seeking approval of the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests for diversion of 10.04 hecrates of forest land in the Nilgris district and 19,897 hectares of forest land in Coimbatore district for erecting transmission line along the existing transmission line corridor, was recommended by the Tamil Nadu government in January this year, the letter said.

As the state electricity board required at least six months to lay the transmission line and the hydro electric power project was likely to be commissioned in March next year, immediate approval of the Union ministry was required, she said. Bureau Report