Goa, June 19 -- AUGUSTO RODRIGUES

Environment activists and villagers living along NH 66, where trees were being cut for the highway's expansion, breathed a sigh of relief after the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court granted interim relief and appointed a three-member committee to inspect the site and submit its report within six days. "We deem it appropriate to grant interim relief by staying the op eration of the order dated April 15, 2026 of the Tree Officer insofar as it concerns the standing 80 trees at the site and 55 trees proposed to be relocated," read the order passed by Justice Valmiki Menez es and Justice Jiten S Venegavkar. "With hardly any tree canopy left, travelling along the Verna stretch of the highway does not feel the...