After row over hydropower project, Torrent Power asked to ‘transplant as many trees as possible’

The company’s pumped storage project will require 370 hectares of land in the Saidongar, Kotwal Khalati and Pali areas in Karjat

Following the row over axing of more than 32,000 trees in Karjat for a pumped storage hydropower project, the Alibag forest division has asked the company behind the project, Gujarat-based Torrent Power, to save as many trees as possible by transplanting them.

Tree-cutting operations were initiated, but were put on hold in the last week of October after videos of the exercise began circulating on social media, triggering protests from local residents and environmentalists. (Bachchan Kumar/ Hindustan Times))

“We have verbally told the Torrent management to transplant as many trees as possible instead of cutting them. We have also told them to save the trees in the submergence area. A formal communication regarding this will be issued soon,” said Umesh Bawde, deputy conservator of forests in charge of the Alibag division.

The company’s pumped storage project will require 370 hectares of land in the Saidongar, Kotwal Khalati and Pali areas in Karjat.

On October 6, the state forest department diverted 233 hectares of forest land for the project. Tree-cutting operations were initiated thereafter, but were put on hold in the last week of October after videos of the exercise began circulating on social media, triggering protests from local residents and environmentalists.

“Two people at the centre (prime minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah) decide which plots in the forest in other areas would be given to companies. They don’t care much about the chief minister and deputy chief ministers – I had mentioned this during the assembly polls,” Raj Thackeray said during his visit.

He also warned that once trees were cut, colonies would be built to house outsiders and the demography of the area would be changed, making the locals a minority.

Responding to the allegations, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis later said that the ₹13,000-crore hydropower project would produce 3,000 megawatt power, and if the same were to be generated via thermal power, the pollution caused would be equivalent to that produced by four million vehicles.

“Our solar power generation capacity has increased, but peak-hour electricity demand kicks in after solar generation hours. If we rely on coal-based electricity to meet this demand, it will cause a lot of pollution, to offset which, we would need to plant 280 million trees,” Fadnavis claimed.

Forest officials said that after the row escalated, many meetings were held at the state secretariat in Mumbai and the forest department headquarters in Nagpur. During these meetings, Torrent Power agreed to plant three trees for every felled tree, in addition to planting 90,000 trees around the water body at its own expense, the officials noted.

A spokesperson of Torrent Power did not respond to HT’s requests for comments.