Nashik Kumbh 2027 tree felling sparks environmental battle

The authorities – Nashik civic body to the chief minister of Maharashtra — have not given up hopes of felling substantial numbers of trees to accommodate the sadhus who would come for the October 2027 kumbh on the river Godavari. They are trying to persuade the tree-lovers to entertain hopes that the government would do the right thing by statistics. A slight willingness to concede the need for trees is visible, but a trust deficit has made the environmentalists firm.

When the Pune bench of the Green Tribunal ordered a moratorium of tree-felling till January 15, 2026, a sense of relief was seen among the tree lovers who found that a month would help them to further strengthen their fight. Cutting down of 1,273 trees without a whisper in September and October by the Nashik Municipal Corporation to locate new solid waste management systems has outraged tree-lovers who say it was done without a whisper. NMC claims that procedures were followed, including public hearings.

If the claim of planting 7,000 new trees in and around Nashik as compensation is correct, there are no significant signs of any new plantations. However, as compensation for the proposed cutting down of about 1,800 trees in Tapovan, the authorities have started ferrying in grown trees from Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh, but finds it has no space available to store them, even as deeper trenches are being made outside Tapovan where about an estimated one lakh sadhus are to be housed.

Religious leaders oppose tree felling

This is seen as an effort to soften the opposition from the tree lovers, but that is only a hope as of now. Continuing support and growth on a day-to-day basis indicate that the tree lovers are likely to sheathe their agitational swords, and the political backing has not weakened. A head of Anand Akhada, located in Trimbakeshwar, Mahant Ganeshanand Saraswati has opposed tree felling, saying the naga sadhus who live in extreme conditions do not need much, and trees need not be cut down for them. This sect is geographically closest to the Kumbh site.

The first to oppose this was Jagadguru Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati of Jyotish Peeth and Dwarka Peeth, who said that “cutting trees to perform Kumbh snan [ritual bathing] is not a symbol of religion.” A religious event may not need to camouflage the government’s agenda of building a convention centre on the spot. He had come out with his rationale some weeks ago on YouTube, and one awaits the views of the other Akhadas, which come down to this once-in-12-years shahi snans (royal baths) at the Kumbh.

Akhadas are monasteries or orders of ascetics trained in frugality to the minimum and to physically combat if need be to protect religion and as Mahant Ganeshanand Saraswati pointed out, can live without the comfort of a planned Sadhugram – a village of sadhus. They would gather for their snans in the kumbh rituals; the kumbh starts on October 3 to end on July 24, 2028 as per the Hindu almanacks.

The campaign persists because environmentalists do not believe that transplanting grown trees from Andhra Pradesh is a solution, because the survival rate is poor to the extent of being negligible. Curiously, the kumbh planners want to project the kumbh as a ‘green kumbh’ but do not see the irony of cutting down as many as 1800 grown trees. The Maharashtra government wants to be compared to the Prayagraj kumbh. No expense is to be spared. Apart from the sadhus, eight crore visitors are expected.

Political backing strengthens environmental movement

A minister from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP has even questioned the very idea of a Sadhugram in Nashik’s Tapovan area and suggested that it be in Sinnar, some 30 km away and provide transport to the Sadhus to reach the Godavari, either at Tapovan or Trimbakeshwar. Manikrao Kokate offered to provide access to the requisite land in Sinnar from where he was elected. The authorities have not yet responded to this extreme solution.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar himself has voiced his stand against felling trees, and his party minister too has spoken. Raj Thackeray has agreed with Sayaji Shinde, the man who has planted native trees in thousands to oppose and prevent tree-felling. Shinde is an actor in movies of multiple languages. Thackeray has sent members of his party’s cinema union to demonstrate at Tapovan. Uddhav Thackeray, the first to stand up may intensify his party’s involvement in the movement initiated by environmentalists and tree lovers.

Not to be outdone, another deputy chief minister, Eknath Shinde’s cadre had demonstrated a few days earlier at Tapovan and symbolically set on fire two axes as a protest. Shinde has not spoken about it loudly yet, except saying that all government projects fulfil environmental dimensions. The government is a trustee of the ‘treasure chest’ of people’s requirements. The growing opposition may induce him to walk the talk because it is now a city-centric issue, and elections for urban local bodies are around the corner.

Infrastructure concerns remain unaddressed

However, the NMC, which is key to planning and executing arrangements because the location of the kumbh is within the city limits, is willing to conduct surveys to convince the environmentalists that it would alter its plans to minimise though not entirely avoid – the environmental damage. One aspect, however, has not received a critical assessment: what are the plans to ensure that visitors, not just sadhus, are accommodated? The city of about 2.5 million would be swamped, but are there enough facilities to cater to them?