Sapkal visits Karjat tree felling site, warns of court action over Bhimashankar forest

Anger is building over the tree felling in the Sayadongar area of Karjat. Environmentalists, local residents and political opponents have taken a hard stand against the state government. With drought-like conditions already prevailing in the state, people are visibly angry at trees being cut. The Congress has now entered the matter and has also targeted the state government.

Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal visited Sayadongar on Thursday, October 29. He inspected on the spot the trees being cut in the Karjat Bhimashankar forest for Torrent company, and spoke to villagers there to gather information. Speaking to the media afterwards, he warned that if required, the party would approach the court to protect the forest wealth of Karjat Bhimashankar.

Sapkal said: "The BJP-led Mahayuti government has taken an axe to the rich forest wealth in the lap of the Sahyadri, which carries the sacred legacy of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. In its greed for corrupt gains, the Sahyadri has been sold to a company from Gujarat. The people of Maharashtra will never tolerate the BJP Mahayuti government's attempt to sell the legacy of the Sahyadri. We will foil all the designs of the BJP government and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis."

On the felling and tree planting, Sapkal cited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pledge. He said: "Trees are being cut on a large scale for Torrent company. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made the pledge 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam', yet trees are being felled in Maharashtra. We fulfilled the Prime Minister's pledge today by planting saplings in the Karjat forest." He alleged that the BJP government is neck-deep in corruption, is bent on selling Maharashtra, and has now set out to sell nature itself for commission.

Sapkal said the project coming up in the Karjat Bhimashankar forest is not in Maharashtra's interest. He said the claims that the project will create thousands of jobs and that lakhs of trees will be planted elsewhere in place of these are hollow announcements. He asked what became of the pledge this same government had earlier made to plant 33 crore trees, and said no one had seen even one of those trees. Sapkal also said that if the government calls the project state-of-the-art, then where would thousands of jobs come from. According to him, no one trusts what the BJP government and Chief Minister Fadnavis say, and they are misleading Maharashtra and spreading a fake narrative.

Sapkal also spoke on the Legislative Council results. He said that in the elections to five Legislative Council seats in the state, the Maha Vikas Aghadi dealt the Mahayuti government a crushing defeat by winning three seats, Nagpur, Pune and Sambhajinagar. According to Sapkal, as the results were still coming in, the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister hurriedly posted tweets taunting the Congress, but had to delete them once the results came. He said the office of Prime Minister is one of dignity, and that such a petty act by Narendra Modi does not befit it.

Sapkal also said that in Nagpur, the land of the Sangh and the home city of Chief Minister Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, the ruling side had to taste defeat for the tenth time in a row. He said the result breaks the arrogance of power. He said Fadnavis had put in his full strength himself in the Nagpur election, yet he was humiliated in Nagpur itself, and that the result is the beginning of change.

On the programme ahead, Sapkal will join a mass movement against the Vadhavan port in Palghar district on Friday, October 30, 2026.