Sayaji Shinde urges Karjat villagers to drive away tree cutters with plates and bowls

At a press conference in Mumbai, actor and environmental activist Sayaji Shinde took a firm stand against the felling of trees in Karjat, Raigad. He said not a single more tree would be allowed to be cut for the proposed project of Gujarat's Torrent company.

Shinde appealed to people to treat anyone who comes to cut trees as a disease more dangerous than Covid. He said they should bang plates and bowls and drive such people away.

A power project of Torrent is proposed in Karjat, Raigad, next to the Bhimashankar sanctuary. Trees are being felled on a large scale for it, and thousands have been cut so far. Environmental activists have united over this and have taken an aggressive stand.

Shinde said the Sahyadri is one of the great wonders of the world. He asked what we gain by bombing the homes of animals and birds and laying them waste. He said clearly that not a single tree would be allowed to be cut in Karjat-Bhimashankar for Torrent's project.

He said, "If land is taken in the name of development, the coming generations there will be reduced to begging. Do not let a single tree be cut now, or consider that development is finished. If this project can be done without cutting a single tree, let them do it; we have no objection to that. Only 18 per cent of the world's forests remain. It is necessary to raise that to 33 per cent. But instead of increasing them, these trees are being cut."

Shinde spoke of the Shekru, the state animal, which lives in the Bhimashankar sanctuary. He asked how it would understand the boundary, that it must stay only in the sanctuary and not go into neighbouring Karjat. He also asked what we are doing by cutting trees that are a hundred or a hundred and fifty years old.

He said he no longer wanted a single project like Torrent's, and that no tree should be cut for it. Projects should be carried out without touching the old environmental fabric. He asked, "Have you been elected to destroy the environment?" Shinde said his demand is that the big trees that exist should not be cut.

Shinde said he is forming an organisation called Save Sahyadri, which is enrolling one lakh children. According to him, it will be used to oppose such projects that damage the environment in the Sahyadri.

Several environmental activists spoke at the press conference. They said thousands of trees are being cut in Nashik, and trees are also being felled for the Shaktipeeth expressway. Five lakh trees are to be cut for the MIDC project in Palghar, while 70,000 trees will be cut in Shirod. They said there are many such projects in the state, for which a total of 10 lakh trees will be cut.

The activists said this is the government figure, so they suspect three times as many trees will be cut. They said the environment is being ruined and our sensitivity is fading. They said these things will not stop unless they are opposed, and that they will pursue whatever legal process is needed for this.