New Delhi: A proposed hydropower project by Adani Green Energy Limited, a renewable energy company owned by the Adani Group, in Maharashtra’s Satara district has come under scrutiny. The company submitted an affidavit stating the project’s cost as Rs 56.75 crore, against the Rs 5,675 crore recorded in an earlier Environment Ministry document, according to a report by the Indian Express.The revision also brought down the wildlife conservation deposit linked to the project from Rs 227 crore to approximately Rs 2.27 crore, even as the forest department has given conflicting accounts of whether it accepted the revised figure.The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has directed the Maharashtra forest department on November 6 to investigate the matter on priority following a complaint alleging an incorrect declaration of the project’s cost. The state forest department has initiated an inquiry.How the conservation deposit shrankAccording to the Indian Express, the 1,500 MW Tarali Pumped Storage Project is planned at the Tarali dam reservoir in Patan taluka of Satara district. The project spans 150.74 hectares of non-forest land across four villages – Nivade, Tondoshi, Kalambe and Jalu and falls within the deemed Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary, part of the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve.As per this video report by the Indian Express, Rohan Bhate, Honorary Wildlife Warden of Satara district, filed a complaint on October 30 through the Prime Minister’s grievance redressal portal and Maharashtra’s Aaple Sarkar portal, alleging an incorrect declaration of the project cost.Bhate questioned how a project estimated at Rs 5,675 crore could be assigned a cost of Rs 56.75 crore, arguing that the revision resulted in an undue reduction of approximately Rs 225 crore in conservation dues.According to the publication, the Union Environment Ministry’s February 2025 letter recommending prior Environment Clearance for the project recorded its estimated cost at Rs 5,675 crore.On February 23, 2026, the State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) laid down 15 conditions while considering the project. One required the company to deposit 4% of the project cost into the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve’s bank account. Based on the original estimate, this amounted to Rs 227 crore.Maharashtra’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), M Srinivas Reddy wrote to the company in March 2026 asking it to deposit Rs 227 crore and submit an affidavit confirming it would fulfil all other 14 conditions, said the report.However, on September 8, 2026, Adani Green Energy’s Chief Operating Officer Naresh Telgu submitted a notarised affidavit seeking consideration of Rs 56.75 crore as the project cost, stating that the earlier figure was based on an “analogous estimation”.Accepted in October, Rejected in November: Forest Department’s U-turnOn October 12, Reddy accepted the revised figure and asked the company to deposit Rs 56.75 lakh, representing 1% of the revised cost. The remaining 3%, or Rs 1.7075 crore, was to be deposited after approval from the NBWL. The Sahyadri Tiger Reserve confirmed receipt of Rs 56.75 lakh, as per The Indian Express report.However, while Reddy’s October 12 letter to Adani Green Energy stated that his office had agreed to the revised affidavit listing the project cost as Rs 56.75 crore, as per a report by the Hindustan Times today (November 14), Reddy said the department has not accepted the revised estimate and is awaiting the company’s explanation and supporting documents.“The company has submitted an affidavit to us regarding the reduction in the project cost. However, we have not accepted the revised estimate. We have also asked the company to explain the reduction and submit supporting documents. We are awaiting its response,” Reddy said, as per the Hindustan Times report.The discrepancy raises questions about the department’s position on the revised cost and the basis on which it accepted the company’s initial deposit of Rs 56.75 lakh.Adani rejects allegationsAs per the Indian Express report, Adani Green Energy has rejected the allegation that it sought to reduce the project’s cost to diminish its statutory obligations, calling it “completely misleading”.The company said the Rs 56.75 crore figure referred only to site investigation and survey expenses submitted through the online forest and wildlife clearance portal. These expenses, it said, represented approximately 1% of the overall project cost of Rs 5,675 crore, which the SBWL had considered.The company also maintained that the project was entirely on private, non-forest land, around 3.2 km from Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary, and outside the notified buffer zone of the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve. It denied that the project affected any protected area, reserve forest or notified ESZ.However, in its response to the company’s clarification, the Indian Express pointed to earlier official correspondence from the Maharashtra forest department that explicitly identified the Tarali project as being in the deemed ESZ of Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary.According to a November 14 report by Hindustan Times, the Maharashtra Forest Department has sought an explanation and supporting documents from the company regarding the cost revision.A ‘scandal of gigantic proportions’In a post on social media platform X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh described the episode as a “scandal of gigantic proportions” and renewed the party’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation into the Adani Group’s expansion and business dealings.Ramesh questioned how a project originally estimated at Rs 5,675 crore could be presented at Rs 56.75 crore in an affidavit. He also linked the latest revelation to the Congress’s broader allegations concerning the group’s expansion across industries and the acquisition of public assets.