BJP Kisan Morcha leader urges CM Fadnavis to bar energy projects in Western Ghats

A demand has been raised that the Union Environment Ministry should not grant permission for any hydraulic power project in the Sahyadri and Western Ghats range in Karjat taluka. BJP Kisan Morcha state secretary Sunil Gogte has made the demand in a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Gogte wants the environment to be studied so that the region's biodiversity and natural wealth are preserved. He says no power project should come up in the Western Ghats range.

According to the letter, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change issued a draft notification on the Western Ghats Ecologically Sensitive Area on July 27, 2026, and it has been studied. The Western Ghats are an extremely important, rich and sensitive region for the country's environmental security. Dense forests, a wide variety of flora, rare medicinal plants, many birds, wild animals and reptiles are found here. Endemic and endangered biodiversity is also found in large quantities.

The Western Ghats are the source of many rivers. Their conservation has been described as essential for the entire ecological balance and for water security. Several dam, hydroelectric and pumped storage projects have been proposed in the Western Ghats areas of Maharashtra's Raigad and Pune districts. The process has already begun for some of them. The letter says such projects raise serious concerns about their impact on forest area, natural habitats, hill ranges, water flow and biodiversity.

On the risk of deforestation, the letter says projects such as Torrent could cause heavy loss of large forest areas and natural habitats in the Western Ghats. Trees could be felled on a large scale for dams, reservoirs, tunnels, access roads, power lines, substations, pumped storage projects and other infrastructure. Continuous construction work could obstruct the natural migration routes of wildlife.

The danger of destruction of medicinal plants has also been pointed out. Hydraulic power projects have put rare plants and medicinal herbs at risk. The forests of the Western Ghats hold many endemic, rare and medicinal plants. The Pej river, on which the Torrent project is to come up, could see an impact on its environmental health, river biodiversity, fishing, farming and local water supply. The demand is therefore that no major project be given final approval without genuinely involving the affected gram sabhas, local residents, environment experts, wildlife experts and biodiversity experts.

The letter says that if dense forests, biodiversity, wildlife habitats, medicinal plants and natural water systems are to be put at permanent risk, such development needs to be reconsidered. The Western Ghats are the natural heritage not only of the present generation but of generations to come. It therefore asks that such projects be approved only after an in-depth, independent and scientific study of the combined environmental impact of the dam and hydroelectric projects in the Western Ghats areas of Raigad and Pune districts. It also asks for a study of the total cumulative environmental impact of all proposed dam, hydroelectric and pumped storage projects in Raigad and Pune districts.