Talking about environment has become a fashion, some leaders and actors need tuition: Amit Satam

Mumbai BJP president Amit Satam on Thursday criticised what he called a fashion of talking about the environment. Speaking about global warming, he said that too has become a fashion. His remarks came against the backdrop of sharp criticism of the government over tree felling at Karjat. A large number of trees were cut in the Bhimashankar forest for a pump house project, and the issue has led to a round of allegations and counter-allegations.

Explaining sustainable development, Satam said the ecological balance must be maintained while carrying out development. Generations born in the future should not suffer any ill effect of this development or face any hardship, and that is sustainable development, he said. But many people do not understand the real meaning or the definition of the term, he said.

Satam said many people attend environment conferences. Whenever the issue of the environment comes up, they carry themselves as if they alone are the champions of the environment, he said. "We feel that some leaders and actors in Maharashtra need to take tuition in what the calculations of clean energy, climate change and global warming are," he said.

Satam explained that a pump storage plant is a power generation project. Pump storage capacity is growing across the world, he said, and pump storage projects have gathered pace quickly in China, the United States and Japan.

Clean energy means solar energy, wind energy, hydro power energy and pump storage energy, Satam said. India will reach net emission zero in 2070, he said. An earlier environment minister of Maharashtra had said that Maharashtra would reach net emission zero in 2050. Satam said that person does not understand what net emission zero means, and would not have made such claims if they had.

Satam said that to reach net emission zero in 2070, solar energy, nuclear energy, wind energy and pump storage energy will have to be increased. Generating power from coal causes large greenhouse emissions, and trees have to be planted to reduce them. There is a calculation of how many trees must be planted for carbon emissions to reach net zero, he said. Some leaders and actors in Maharashtra need to take tuition in that, he said.

Satam said there is a 3,000 MW pump storage plant on Sai hill at Karjat. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has explained the benefits of that plant and has issued a statement, and he did not want to go into the details, he said. He also noted that no press note had been issued.

Solar energy is available during the day and not at night, Satam said. If power is needed in the evening, then to offset the carbon emissions that a 3,000 MW coal-fired thermal power plant would produce, 28 crore trees would have to be planted, he said. That would need land 15 times the size of Mumbai, he added.