MLA Thorve backs villagers against Poshir dam, to raise demand for its cancellation in winter session

Local residents do not want the proposed Poshir dam on the Poshri river near Borgaon in Karjat taluka. MLA Mahendra Thorve has openly assured those who would be affected that he stands firmly with their demand. He said the issue would be raised in the winter session of the legislature so that the dam is cancelled for good.

Farmers from the villages that would be submerged met Thorve under the leadership of the Borgaon Kisan Mandal. Thorve spelt out his position at this meeting.

Thorve said there had been much speculation about his stand so far. He said his position stood, and that those who say whatever they like cannot be stopped from speaking. He also said different reports about the dam had been spread through the media.

Working as a people's representative, he said, he had seen that there is a water shortage from February until the rains arrive. Cement dams had been built on the Chilhar river through the zilla parishad, and water flowed away from beneath them. For this reason, both the Chilhar and the Poshri rivers remain dry.

According to Thorve, the government announced in 2025 that the Poshir dam would be built. He said talk of work on this dam predates his birth. He said he had tried to resolve many stalled issues, citing the Shriram bridge as one example, and that the public had elected him for a second time. In his talks with the farmers he said small dams should be built and that he would work for Jamrung and Kondhane. Work at Kondhane began in 2011, he said, and an irrigation scam took place there during the Nationalist Congress and Congress era, and everyone has seen what followed.

Thorve said the Kondhane dam has been handed over to CIDCO. He said he pursued the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to have a share of water reserved for Karjat taluka. His position, he said, was that CIDCO should also build homes for the tribal families who would be displaced.

He supported the dam because of the water shortage. He said that when the dam was proposed he welcomed it, with the aim of resolving the taluka's water problem so that the shortage would end for good. But if the water was to go to the Mumbai suburbs, he said, he expressed sharp opposition as the MLA of this constituency.

Thorve said the state government neither asked him anything nor issued any notice, and so he is against this dam. After the local opposition came to light, it also had to be considered that people would be displaced there, and the question of rehabilitation is still unresolved. He said he has no information on this, and so his position is that the dam will not be allowed to be built. He said his stand would be the same as that of the local people.

He said the government has so far not announced where the villages would be resettled. He said the demand for permanent cancellation of the dam would therefore be raised in this winter session. Thorve also said that when people earlier held a march and submitted a memorandum to the tehsildar, the protest could have been intensified had they come to him then. He assured them the matter would also be taken to the chief minister and the deputy chief minister.

Finally, Thorve said his stand is not two-faced. The water question was serious, so he had taken that position earlier, but now he would stay with the local people.