Lavasa gets conditional environment clearance

The environment ministry earlier this week gave clearance to Lavasa, a private hill town project near Pune, thus paving the way for the developers to restart work.

The construction work at the project had been stopped since November last year after the ministry issued a show- cause notice to Lavasa for violation of environmental laws and not taking prior environmental clearance from the central government.

The ministry’s final clearance, subject to binding conditions on the developers, for Phase- I of the project came after the Maharashtra government filed a case under the environmental law against the developers and government officials who connived to give the go- ahead for the project.

The filing of a case termed ‘ credible action’ was one of the pre-requisites set by the ministry for clearance.

Billed as the first and largest hill city conceptualised in post- independence India, to be spread over 12,500 acres in the sylvan Sahyadri mountains along the contours of the Warasgaon lake was developed by Hindustan Construction Company led by Ajit Gulabchand.

The Rs. 2,824 crore project already has a built- up area of 681 hectares. It ran into controversies when Jairam Ramesh was the environment minister. The ministry set up an expert appraisal panel under K. T. Ravindran to assess the damage and suggest penal action.

The committee submitted its final report on October 25, which was accepted by the Jayanthi Natarajan- led environment ministry. According to the ministry’s 10- page order, as many as 47 conditions have been imposed upon the developers. The ministry has also ordered that a highlevel verification and monitoring panel comprising experts and government officials be set up.

The order also stipulates that five per cent of the total cost be used towards CSR to develop and help the neighbouring villages in community development and employment generation.