Centre issues new power tower norms to cut forest diversion

New Delhi: The environment ministry has issued new guidelines on Right of Way (ROW), urging all states to shift to improved power and pole designs in forest areas to reduce forest land requirement. The ministry is aiming at a 20% reduction in forest land diversion for construction of electricity towers and transmission lines.

The environment ministry has said that the power ministry will issue guidelines soon to all states/UTs and power transmission agencies for encouraging the 'adoption of improved tower configurations and advanced conductor technologies' for all new installations in forest areas, "reducing the requirement of forest areas as RoW". The green ministry's July 3 guidelines come amid repeated concerns raised by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) over increasing footprint of electricity and telecom towers proposed through core forest areas, impacting tree cover and wildlife considerably.


Take the case of a proposal discussed at the July 9 meet of the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) pitching for multiple 4G telecom towers in Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal. NTCA has raised concerns about these given their location in ecologically sensitive core areas and key tiger habitats. In fact, amid the ongoing expansion of electricity and telecom networks, NBWL now typically deals with multiple requests for forest land diversion. The July 9 meet itself saw 12 proposals on power transmission lines to consider.

The environment ministry's latest intervention follows the amendment of ROW requirements for transmission lines made in late 2025. Industry estimates indicate that the transition from traditional lattice towers to modern pole structures can slash the tower footing footprint by up to 96%, automatically bringing down the area in forest land. At a meeting held on June 10, the ministry's advisory approved new guidelines that come into effect immediately for all towers and conductors with new configurations. While the new guidelines allow for construction of transmission lines using existing older configuration of towers and conductors as per older guidelines, it has clarified that these will be discontinued and replaced with revised ROW standards later.