Seoni in central part of Western Region is planned to be developed as a pooling station where surplus power imported from Eastern Region and power generated at Sipat complex shall be pooled. As this pooling station is located in Madhya Pradesh, for reliable dispersal of power beyond Seoni towards various load centres in eastern and western part of Maharashtra, a high capacity transmission corridor between Seoni and Maharashtra, in parallel with existing 400 kV transmission lines in Maharashtra need to be established.

The objective of the project is to provide adequate transmission arrangement to enable Maharashtra to draw power with reliability from pooling point in central part of Western Region, where power imported from Eastern Region and generated at Sipat complex shall be pooled.

Wardha (Nagpur area) is one of the major load centres in eastern part of Maharashtra. At present, power to Wardha is being dispersed through 220kV lines, which shall not be adequate to meet the future demand. Therefore, to meet the present as well as long-term power requirement of the area with reliability and security, establishment of a new 400/220kV substation at Wardha has become necessary. Further, this substation is to be upgraded to 765 kV level in future when injection of power at Seoni from Eastern Region would increase and more power transfer would be required to Maharashtra. Accordingly, interconnection of this substation with power pooling station at Seoni through 765kV S/C Seoni – Wardha (initially to be operated at 400kV) line has been proposed.

For further dispersal of power towards central part of Maharashtra, establishment of 400 kV D/C Wardha-Akola and Akola-Aurangabad lines is also needed. These lines would enable development of a parallel transmission corridor for delivery of power with reliability and security from pooling station located in Madhya Pradesh towards eastern/ central part of Maharashtra.

Transmission Lines
i.Seoni - Wardha 765kV S/C - 275 kms.
ii.Wardha - Akola 400kV D/C - 184 kms.
iii.Akola - Aurangabad 400kV D/C - 265 kms.

i.Extension of existing 765/400 KV substation at Seoni
ii.Extension of existing 400/220 KV at Akola and Aurangabad of MSEB
iii.Construction of new 400/220 KV at Wardha
A power map showing the transmission grid of Western Region highlighting the above scope of works is placed as
Exhibit-1.

The project is located mainly in the State of Maharashtra in India except one line(Seoni-Wardha) part of which is falling in Madhya Pradesh. The basic details of the area under project are given below:

Maharashtra, with an area of 30.77 million ha, is the third largest state of the country, constituting 9.36% of the total geographic area. It lies between latitude 150 35' and 220 02' N and longitude 720 36' and 800 54' E.
Physiographically, the state can be divided into five regions viz Deccan Plateau, Central Highland, Eastern Chotanagpur Plateau, Eastern Ghat and Coastal plain. Except around Mumbai, and along the eastern limits, the State of Maharashtra presents a monotonously uniform, flat-topped skyline. This topography of the state is the outcome of its geological structure. The state area, barring the extreme eastern Vidarbha region, parts of Kolhapur and Sindhudurg, is practically co-terminus with the Deccan Traps. The land use pattern is shown in Table 2.1.

PHYSIOGRAPHY: Madhya Pradesh as its name implies, lies in the heart of India.It consists of a geographical area of 3,08,300 sq. km which constitutes 9.38% of the land area of the country & bordering the states - Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan. It lies between lat.210 04'&260 52'N and long.740 02' & 820 49' E.

The climatic condition is generally Sub-Tropical wet and dry. MP state has three main seasons:
• Winter (November through February).
• Summer (March through May); and • Monsoon season (June through September).

During the winter average temperatures range from 10° to 27° C. Summers are hot, with an average temperature of 29° C and a high temperature that at times reaches 48° C. During the monsoon season temperatures average 19° to 30° C.

Annual rainfall tends to decrease from south to north and from east to west. The average rainfall in the different regions of the state ranges from 450 to 900 mm. The annual mean total rainfall recorded at Ujjain is 934.1 mm (1960 - 1980 data period) with almost 45 rainy days. The heaviest rainfall in 24 hours has been recorded as 239 mm at Ujjain.

Red, Yellow and black soils are generally available in the state.

The forest cover of the state based on the satellite data is 77,265 Sq. km. which constitutes 25.07% of the geographic area (Map-2). Out of these dense forest accounts for 44,384 sq.km. having crown density of more than 40% and open or degraded forest of 32,881 sq.km. having crown density ranging between 10-40%. By legal status Reserve Forest constitutes 61.69%, Protected Forest 37.36% and unclassified Forest 0.95%. The forests are the main source of supply of fodder and fuel and subsistence for the poorest sections of the people and tribal population in the interior under-developed areas of the state

• There are four forest types:
• Tropical Moist Deciduous
• Tropical Dry Deciduous
• Tropical Thorn and
• Sub Tropical Broadleaved Hill Forests.

Forests are largely distributed in central, southern and eastern parts of the undivided state of Madhya Pradesh. Northern and western parts of the state are deficient in forest vegetation. Teak and Sal are the two most important forest formations of the state, covering 18.0% and 16.7% forest area, respectively while miscellaneous forests cover 65.3%. Madhya Pradesh forest reserves are logged for Teak, Sal, Bamboo and Salai. These forests catered to the needs of the people and cattle for generations, largely because they contained good cropping species. However, population explosion and developmental needs have exerted a steadily increasing demand on the ever-diminishing extent of forests. Over-exploitation resulted in reduction of area under forests. The maximum forest cover is recorded in the district Sheopur having 56.75% of forest cover and minimum in the Ujjain district having only 0.61%. There are 11 National Parks (NP) and 32 Wild Life Sanctuaries in the state. However, the Kanha tiger reserve in Jabalpur district is the most important National Park of the state.

The one line (765 KV Seoni-Wardha) of proposed transmission system shall pass through mainly two district of this state having forest cover ranging from 35 % to 38 %. It may be noted from the table below that in these districts the forest cover is a good mixture of both dense and open/degraded forest nature this warrant extra precaution in routing of line through forest area. Details of forest cover of these districts are as follows: