BJP backs Torrent project in Karjat, urges outside leaders to stay away

The Bharatiya Janata Party held a press conference at Karjat on the Torrent project. BJP district secretary Deepak Behere said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has given all the detailed information about the project. As the Chief Minister had said, he assured that BJP workers will go to the areas where the project is coming up, speak to local people and find out what they want and what they do not want. The BJP also made a public appeal to outsiders not to come to Karjat and meddle.

District secretary Deepak Behere, district OBC Morcha president Rajesh Bhagat, district general secretary Ramesh Mundhe and Nitin Kandalgaonkar were present at the press conference. Former district general secretary Mangesh Mhaskar, mandal president Naresh Masane, former mayor Sharad Lad, Matheran deputy mayor Santosh Shelar and BJP Kisan Morcha district president Atul Badgujar were also present.

At the outset, Behere said the Chief Minister had spoken himself and given detailed information. He said this eco-friendly project is needed for the country and the state. "This project is in the interest of Karjat, so our demand is that it should not be opposed," he said.

Behere further said: "We get electricity from Chandrapur, do we say that power comes from outside?" He said the project is in Karjat's interest and local people will get business. At the same time, he said, the views of local residents must be heard, and that is the party's position. He said people must get justice, there should be no extreme opposition, and party workers will go there and speak to project-affected people. He appealed to the opposition that people and leaders from outside the taluka should not come to Karjat and vitiate the taluka's atmosphere.

District general secretary Ramesh Mundhe also put forward his views. He said neither "you nor we" know what the uproar everywhere is about. He said the project is going ahead only after obtaining all permissions. Mundhe said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the call to build a developed India, and as power and water are important for that, dams and electricity are essential. He appealed to the opposition that outsiders should not come here and vitiate the atmosphere of Karjat taluka.

District OBC Morcha president Rajesh Bhagat said the Prime Minister's visit was not planned and was merely a rumour. However, he said, if the Prime Minister of the country were to come to Karjat, "we will be ready to welcome him and will get the local issues resolved."

It was also stated at the conference that although the project is private, it is being built through a public-private partnership (PPP). The government was therefore getting all permissions for the project, and that is why the project is coming. On what a fake narrative is, it was said that trees have indeed been felled, but the Forest Department will plant three times as many trees.