In the midst of one of the worst heatwaves this country has ever faced, Maharastra government clears projects that will end up clearing about 1,800 hectares of forest land. Which will result in about 4,00,000 trees getting cut down. The clearing of forests in Thane, Palghar, Gadchiroli, and Yavatmal is not just about losing trees-it’s about dismantling entire ecosystems.
This project which the government claims is to build four mega infrastructure projects, will irreversiblely damage the ecology of Maharastra.
The locations of these projects are especially dangerous to the environmental health of the state. Some of them cut directly through critical wildlife corridors, such as the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve and its surrounding buffer zones. The mining projects in Gadchiroli and Yavatmal encroach upon these protected areas, threatening the survival of key species like tigers, leopards, and various endemic birds.
The Gargai dam project undertaken under this plan aims to bolster water supply to Mumbai. Yet, the very act of constructing the dam involves destroying the forests that help maintain the hydrological cycle. This Gargai dam project is being undertaken despite a study by South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People showing that Mumbai does not need any additional dam including Gargai if it utilizes available local resources including rainfall, reuse of treated sewage, desalinization, demand side management, groundwater recharge, among other cost effective and less destructive options. Devendra Fadnavis has not bothered to respond to these concerns or options. This situation is reminiscent of the land grab on 400 acres of land near Hyderabad Central University. The land grab is currently on halt due to the massive impact of protesting students. The government isn’t unaware of the consequences, it’s complicit. It’s choosing profit over people, and concrete over forests. This is not ignorance, it is a deliberate erasure of life for the gain of a few. When profit tramples forests, and silence replaces resistance, we lose more than trees, we lose our future.
Disha Students’ Organization and Naujawan Bharat Sabha stand in fierce opposition against this ecological damage done by the Maharashtra government, and calls upon every conscience to rise. Let our resistance echo louder than the chainsaws, let it grow, like the forests they seek to destroy. We condemn this destruction and urge all justice-loving citizens to rise,not just in anger, but in resistance.
