Mumbai, Oct 25 Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday accused the Opposition of creating a fake narrative about a proposed hydro-power project in Raigad district, asserting that the unit will produce clean energy and help meet peak electricity demand.
The project, proposed in Karjat tehsil, is the Saidongar-1 Pumped Storage Project, a 3,000 MW hydro-energy initiative. It is expected to contribute to grid reliability and energy security in the state and other regions. It envisages an investment of Rs 13,505 crore.
Environmental activists and opposition parties have raised concerns over “rampant” felling of trees for the project.
Talking to reporters in Navi Mumbai, Fadnavis said Maharashtra had developed substantial solar power generation capacity, but solar power was unavailable after 5 pm, when peak electricity demand sets in.
“The peak-demand period lasts for around four hours. If we use coal-fired electricity to meet the demand during these hours, it would cause significant pollution,” he said.
He said the Karjat pumped storage project will provide electricity without any pollution.
The CM called the criticism surrounding the project a fake narrative, underscoring that hydropower projects could help meet peak electricity demand by making clean energy available when solar power was unavailable.
Activists and opposition parties, including Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Raj Thackeray-led MNS, have come out against the “rampant” cutting of hundreds of trees for the project of Torrent Power.
Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray has said that “indiscriminate felling of thousands of trees for the hydroelectric project of the Gujarat company is blatantly underway”.
“Due to whose blessings is this slaughter proceeding? They are wiping out the rich natural bounty in the Saidongar area and trampling the opposition of locals and environmentalists,” Thackeray had said on X earlier.
Why was Maharashtra’s environment being sacrificed in the “mad rush” for the proposed groundbreaking ceremony scheduled next month, he said.
Kailash More, a leader of environmental group Karjat Paryavaran Bachao Samiti, had said that they would stage a protest if the tree felling was not stopped.
The final approval for diversion of 233-hectare forest land and felling of 48,000 trees was issued on October 6 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Central government’s nodal agency for environmental and forestry policies and programmes, an official had said earlier.
A pumped-storage project stores surplus electricity by pumping water to an elevated reservoir and generates power from the stored water during peak-demand hours, particularly when solar generation declines.
(PTI News)
