Karjat BJP leader asks government to replant trees instead of felling them for Torrent project

BJP leaders in Karjat, Raigad district, have set out their local position on the Torrent Green Energy project. Kiran Thakre, the BJP's Karjat assembly chief, told a press conference that the party is not against development but that trees should be replanted instead of being cut. He said this demand would be placed before the government.

The project is coming up in the Sai Dongar hills of Bhimashankar and Karjat. About 33,000 trees are to be felled for it, and thousands have already been cut. Local residents opposed the felling. Leaders of the main opposition parties then also voiced their opposition and have taken the stand that the project should not be allowed.

The Torrent company's proposed Sai Dongar pumped hydro energy storage project in Karjat taluka of Raigad will generate 3,000 MW of power. BJP leaders say that although this is a green energy project, felling trees on such a large scale is a matter of concern. Their position is that they do not oppose the development the project will bring, but that development must be carried out while avoiding damage to the environment.

Thakre demanded that the method of transplanting trees, as followed in China, be adopted. He said countries such as the United States, Japan and China have carried out experiments in which trees are uprooted with their roots and planted elsewhere instead of being cut. The trees are then looked after for four years with water, necessary treatment and the help of experts. Thakre said the same method should be adopted in Karjat.

Earlier, MNS chief Raj Thakre and MLA Aaditya Thakre had visited the site where trees were felled and registered their protest there. Local leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party, a constituent of the Mahayuti, had also opposed the tree felling. Karjat's BJP leaders have now also spoken on the issue.

Tension has risen over the felling under way in Sai Dongar in Karjat-Bhimashankar. Local residents are directly opposing both the felling and the government's decision on the Torrent project. Differences are visible among local leaders of the ruling side on the issue. Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) MLA Mahendra Thorve backs the project, while Sudhakar Ghare of the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction) is against it. Ghare had earlier remarked that Thorve's stand is that it does not matter if local people die, as long as the projects that kill local people are allowed to come. The BJP has now also made its position clear.