Mumbai, Nov 6 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Friday slammed the Mahayuti government over the proposed pumped-storage hydropower project in Maharashtra's Raigad district, claiming the facility won't create jobs, but instead destroy the ecosystem.
Reacting to reports about Torrent Power, which is developing the project, being asked to transplant trees for the 3,000 MW project in Karjat, Thackeray said that attempting to transplant trees from a mature ecosystem like the Sahyadri range was a "scam" and accused the government of greenwashing.
The proposed Rs 13,505-crore Saidongar-1 Pumped Storage Project is around 16 km from the Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary and 20 km from the Bhimashankar Temple. While touted to boost grid reliability and energy security across the state, the project is facing fierce opposition from locals and opposition parties, as it involves the felling of more than 32,000 trees.
"This project doesn't create jobs, and it destroys the ecosystem. Why doesn't the regime shift the project investment into a battery storage project instead?" Thackeray wrote in a post on X, adding that battery storage is the alternative Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his administration must consider.
He further remarked that by destroying an ecosystem and labelling a pumped-storage project as "clean energy", either the chief minister is being misled or he believes the state can be fooled.
"No amount of such greenwashing will convince Maharashtra to let the CM sell off Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's Sahyadris to his friends' companies," the former state environment minister said.
He also challenged the state's energy policy on coal power generation, stating that if the chief minister audited thermal plants across Maharashtra and shut down coal washeries, the administration would uncover a massive energy loss scam.
Furthermore, Thackeray claimed that the Centre has relaxed pollution control norms for thermal power plants, thereby blatantly permitting them to pollute the environment.
