Tribal families near Tata dam site in Karjat fear blasts, falling stones and cracked walls

Tribal families in Tapkirwadi and Dhangarwada in Karjat taluka are living in fear. A dam is to be built nearby by the Tata group, and excavation for it has been under way for the past year. Residents say that when explosives are set off in the excavation, stones fall on the surrounding houses.

The Tata company is doing the work on land it owns near Bhivpuri village, within the Bhivpuri gram panchayat limits. A deep pit is being dug across 65 acres for a hydroelectric project, and a large reservoir to store water is being created by excavating about 100 metres. A 1,000 MW pumped storage project to store electricity has been under way for a year. Excavation has been going on since May last year, and heavy machines work day and night.

The soil and stones dug out are being heaped on one side. Mounds as tall as buildings, in effect small hills, have come up. There is a fear that if these mounds collapse on the 22 houses of Tapkirwadi Dhangarwada, a major disaster could follow. It is being said that these mounds could prove fatal for local people. The work has also put the environment in the area at risk.

The administration has taken no action in the matter, and the tribal villagers of Dhangarwada in Tapkirwadi are living in fear for their lives. The Tata company had promised, during a hunger strike in December 2025, to rehabilitate Tapkirwadi and Dhangarwada, which lie against the dam wall. Eleven months have passed since that written assurance, and the company has done nothing.

The tribal residents therefore spent the entire monsoon in fear. Stones fall on the houses at night, and families have had to spend nights holding their young children close. They fear being hurt by the stones, and the walls of their houses have also cracked. Sita Gangaram Shid asked whether the Tata company is waiting for the houses of tribal people to collapse.

Sita Gangaram Shinde said: "We have begun to feel that our death lies in this ruined house. They are not giving us land, they are not building houses for us, and the Tata company does not even give us plain drinking water. We have begun to feel that they want to end our lives."

Elderly women of the village have openly alleged that the Tata company's design is to sacrifice the tribal people without accepting any of their demands. Their complaint is that for a year they were told that land would be acquired and houses built, but nothing has actually happened.