Lonavla residents want hill station tag for getaway | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Lonavla residents want hill station tag for getaway

Hindustan Times | ByKunal Purohit, Lonavla
Aug 10, 2010 01:35 AM IST

Your favourite weekend getaways — Lonavla and Khandala — are not recognised as hill stations by the state government.

Your favourite weekend getaways — Lonavla and Khandala — are not recognised as hill stations by the state government.

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This failure to classify them as hill stations has led to unrestricted development as the government puts restrictions on construction activities at hill stations to protect their fragile ecology.

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Hindustan Times on Monday reported how these destinations were slipping into a state of neglect, forcing the HC to ask the State to consider superseding the local Lonavla Municipal Council (LMC) and creating a new council.

“Officially declaring these towns as hill stations will ensure restrictions on growth,” said Yogesh Godse, chief officer, LMC.

The Lonavla-Khandala Citizens Forum (LKCF) has appointed environment planner, Pallavi Latkar, to conduct a study to define the boundaries of the two towns.

“With this study, we’ll ask the government to declare it a hill station as soon as possible, to ensure we can save these towns,” said Secretary, LKCF, Subodh Tiwari.

“There are a lot of ecologically sensitive areas, especially villages around Lonavla where there has been reckless real estate development by passing it off as Lonavla. There is a need to include these areas and draw new boundaries,” Latkar said.

“Things have been going a little out of control in Lonavla. The area is deteriorating very quickly. Hence, we are contemplating classifying it as an eco-sensitive zone,” said TC Benjamin, Principal Secretary, UD.

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