Environmental activists, concerned citizens, and villagers in Rajasthan’s Baran district have raised their voices against the felling of over 100,000 trees for a pumped storage project in the biodiversity-rich Shahbad forest. A delegation traveled to New Delhi to appeal to higher authorities, citing the environmental and socio-economic damage the project could cause.

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• Over 100,000 trees in Shahbad forest are at risk due to a pumped storage project in Rajasthan’s Baran district.
• Local villagers and environmental activists have protested the project, claiming it will destroy the forest and harm the local ecology.
• The Union government granted permission to a Hyderabad-based company to develop the project on 408 acres of forest land.
• The forest is a critical water recharge zone, vital for India’s water security, according to water conservationist Rajendra Singh.
• The project would disrupt the livelihoods of the region’s tribal population and harm local biodiversity.
• A delegation met with Jhalawar-Baran MP Dushyant Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to deliver a memorandum.
• The memorandum urges the government to choose alternative lands for the project, such as reclaimed land from stone mines in nearby districts.
• Rajasthan High Court’s suo motu cognizance revealed that afforestation in distant Jaisalmer would absorb much less CO2 than Shahbad forest.
• Environmentalists stress the importance of carbon sinks for clean air and water, especially amid rising global CO2 levels.
• The project could disrupt the cheetah corridor, affecting the Kuno Cheetah Project and its management of cheetah populations.