Key Project & Controversy Facts at a Glance:
Karjat Forest Tree Cutting Sparks Protests Across Maharashtra
Karjat, renowned for its emerald Sahyadri hills, dense forest cover, and fragile eco-sensitive river catchments in Maharashtra's Raigad district, is currently at the centre of a fierce environmental controversy. A proposed 3,000 MW pumped-storage hydroelectric power project has triggered widespread alarm across the state after official permissions were granted to fell 32,490 trees across the Saidongar forest belt and adjacent rural villages.
The project, spearheaded by Gujarat-based private utility Torrent Power, has met with intense resistance from local villagers, tribal gram sabhas, environmental researchers, and political leaders. Over the past week, distressing videos and photographs depicting cleared forest paths and felling activity circulated rapidly on social media platforms, igniting widespread public outcry and bringing renewed scrutiny to industrial encroachments within the Western Ghats.
Beyond the immediate loss of tree cover, the controversy has raised existential questions concerning Western Ghats forest conservation, the fundamental rights of indigenous tribal communities, and how major state infrastructure projects must balance escalating national renewable energy storage mandates against unrecoverable regional biodiversity loss.
Why Are 32,490 Trees Being Cut in Karjat?
The proposed Saidongar-I pumped-storage project carries an estimated capital outlay of approximately ₹13,500 crore. The layout is mapped across the rugged natural terrain of Saidongar, Kotwal Khalati, Pali, and adjacent settlement clusters in Karjat taluka.
According to regional media records and administrative filings, the Maharashtra Forest Department issued a formal felling notice on October 14, 2026, clearing the path to fell 32,490 standing trees to facilitate construction access and site clearing.
The development necessitates the diversion of approximately 233 hectares of forest land, alongside substantial swathes of surrounding agricultural and revenue village plots. The plant operates as a closed-loop or semi-closed-loop pumped-storage hydropower facility, designed to store and dispatch electricity by shifting water between twin reservoirs constructed at differing topographical elevations:
• Peak Power Generation: During periods of peak electricity demand, stored water is released from the higher-elevation upper reservoir down through underground penstocks and hydraulic turbines into a lower reservoir, generating rapid dispatchable electricity for the grid.
• Energy Storage Mode: During off-peak hours (or during surplus solar/wind output hours), electricity from the grid is consumed to pump the water back up to the upper reservoir, acting effectively like a giant natural gravity battery.
While pumped-storage technology is recognized globally as an effective mechanism to stabilize clean energy grids and absorb intermittent renewable generation, the massive land footprint, heavy blasting, and clear-felling of mature forest ecosystems in Karjat’s sensitive valleys have transformed the site into a heated flashpoint.
Local Residents Raise Concerns About Forest Loss
For the communities living in and around Karjat’s Saidongar hills, the crisis is not merely a statistical figure of 32,490 trees.
The forests of the northern Western Ghats support an intricate web of biodiversity, perennial spring networks, and ancestral agrarian systems. Local villagers, farmers, and environmental botanists have raised serious objections across several critical dimensions:
Wildlife Habitats & Corridor Fragmentation
Clear-felling contiguous canopy interrupts critical wildlife corridors utilized by leopards, barking deer, civets, endangered raptors, and rich herpetofauna that depend on dense undergrowth across the Sahyadri escarpment.
Impact on Local Water Springs & Aquifers
Residents fear that extensive blasting, heavy earthmoving, and artificial reservoir impoundment could disrupt subterranean aquifers, seasonal mountain rivulets, and the drinking water wells that sustain local paddy fields and household needs.
Hillside Stability & Monsoon Landslide Hazards
Karjat experiences exceptionally heavy torrential rainfall during the monsoon season. Stripping deep-rooted forest trees on steep slopes accelerates topsoil runoff and heightens the danger of catastrophic mudslides and landslides for downslope hamlets.
Tribal Livelihoods & Forest Rights
Indigenous tribal families (including Katkari and Thakar communities) historically depend on minor forest produce, wild herbs, cattle grazing pastures, and community forest rights (CFR) recognized under the Forest Rights Act.
Irreversible Ecological Damage
Mature forest canopies represent centuries of natural succession. Artificial monoculture plantation schemes cannot replicate the complex micro-climates, canopy layers, and soil microbiome of established old-growth jungle.
Political Leaders Join the Protest
Over the past week, the controversy transcended local civil society advocacy and rapidly escalated into a major political debate across Maharashtra:
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray visited the affected Saidongar belt alongside regional party functionaries. Thackeray interacted directly with local farmers and tribal families opposing the felling, demanding an immediate freeze on tree cutting and raising concerns over arbitrary clearances without comprehensive ecological audits.
NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar publicly criticized the forest diversion permissions, questioning the process by which over 32,000 trees in an eco-sensitive pocket were sanctioned for clearance and demanding transparency in project impact assessments.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray made an on-site visit to the project grounds on October 28. Thackeray met with affected villagers, tribal youth, and gram sabha representatives, addressing allegations of forced displacement, lack of prior informed consent, and the erosion of local self-governance rights.
Protest groups have demanded a complete cancellation of the project clearances and an immediate cessation of all machinery movement.
In response, representatives of the Maharashtra state government have defended the statutory clearance procedure, asserting that the project had obtained preliminary administrative approvals and that environmental mitigation conditions were framed in accordance with national guidelines.
Has Tree Cutting in Karjat Been Stopped?
As of October 28, 2026, on-ground reports indicate that active tree felling operations have been temporarily halted following the intense public backlash and political interventions.
A report published by The Times of India on October 27 cited senior Forest Department officials confirming that tree cutting had been paused due to rising tensions and protests at the site.
Environmental groups emphasize that a temporary halt to tree felling does not equate to a withdrawal of the project's statutory clearances or cancellation of the ₹13,500 crore concession. Unless official revocation or formal restructuring notifications are executed by the Forest Department and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), work could potentially resume once local scrutiny subsides.
Local gram sabhas continue to maintain vigilant patrols near the forest boundary, demanding written confirmation that no further felling or excavation will take place without thorough public hearings.
Can Tree Planting Compensate for the Loss of an Existing Forest?
A central pillar of the regulatory defense for large infrastructure projects is Compensatory Afforestation (CA) — the commitment to plant saplings elsewhere to balance trees lost. However, ecologists and forest scientists note that sapling plantations cannot substitute for an ancient, intact forest ecosystem.
Mature native forests represent multifaceted ecosystems cultivated over decades or centuries. They feature multi-layered canopies, deep fungal and mycorrhizal soil networks, natural hollows that shelter birds and arboreal mammals, and natural sponge-like root structures that regulate regional hydrological cycles.
- • Decades-old mature native canopy
- • High biodiversity & wildlife nesting habitats
- • Natural perennial water retention & soil protection
- • Resilient against extreme weather events
- • Young saplings with high early mortality risk
- • Often monoculture or limited species variety
- • Takes 25–40 years to achieve basic ecological services
- • Often located far away from the original watershed
For Karjat, environmental advocates argue that compensatory plantations created in distant dryland districts cannot rescue the localized water security, soil stability, and unique biodiversity of the Raigad Sahyadris.
What Happens Next? Karjat's Forests and the Future of Development
The controversy over 32,490 trees in Karjat reflects a nationwide paradox: as India expands its clean energy storage capabilities through massive pumped-hydro projects, should pristine biodiversity hotspots in the Western Ghats bear the disproportionate environmental cost?
In the coming weeks, the trajectory of the Saidongar-I project will depend on key regulatory and civic developments:
- Gram Sabha Resolutions: Village bodies are preparing formal legal objections invoking rights under the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act and Forest Rights Act.
- Judicial Review: Environmental non-profit organizations are evaluating petitions before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) seeking a stay on tree felling pending independent cumulative impact assessments.
- Government Review: With upcoming state assembly elections, heightened political scrutiny may prompt the state administration to explore project redesigns, reduced forest footprints, or alternative brownfield locations.
Environmental researcher, regional infrastructure analyst, and publisher at Karjat City.