Goa, April 10 -- The Centre has deferred Goa's renewed bid for forest clearance regarding the contest ed Collem-Margao dou ble-tracking stretch. The Regional Empowered Com mittee (REC) highlighted critical gaps in the Wild life Institute of India (WII) study, insisting on a more rigorous assessment of the project's ecological impact before the proposal can be reconsidered. The REC, which examined the state's fresh request to lift the stay on forest land diversion, observed that the WII report is largely confined to recommend ing mitigation measures.

The committee noted that the report fails to provide a sufficiently detailed anal ysis of the project's impact on biodiversity and ecology within the Bhagwan Maha vir Wildlife Sanctuary. In i...