Lavasa project hits another roadblock

MoEF will now consider entire first phase for clearance rather than just area under construction. This comes after the corporation refused to withdraw its case in Bombay high court against the ministry’s stop work order.

Updated on: Apr 29, 2011, 24:25:54 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, Pune

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In a setback to Lake City project in Pune by Lavasa Corporation, the environment ministry has decided to consider the entire first phase project for environment clearance instead of just that area, where construction has started.

This comes after the Lavasa Corporation Limited (LCL) refused to withdraw its petition in Bombay high court against the ministry’s order to stop work at the project site for alleged environmental violations. The ministry, through an affidavit, had asked the corporation to withdraw its petition till the ministry decides on its application to grant environment clearance to the posh Lake City project.

Mukul Rohagi, counsel for Lavasa, did not agree with the suggestion saying it would amount to petitioners taking an adverse order from the court, where the petition was filed.

“In view of the stand, the EAC (Environment Appraisal Committee) decided the proposals of 681.27 hectares be deferred and be considered along with the whole proposal of 2000 ha (first phase) after the submission of complete information,” the EAC said in the minutes of its last meeting.

As many as 257 residential units in 681.27 hectares were under construction when Environment minister Jairam Ramesh imposed a stop work order earlier this year. The corporation wanted environment clearance for this.

The ministry officials told EAC that it wanted the petitioners to withdraw as the ministry’s stop work order, which the court has refused to stay, should be in force till the show cause notice is decided. As Lavasa refused to withdraw its petition, the next hearing is slated for June 15.

In the meantime, the EAC has asked the corporation to provide details of mercury and arsenic in the soil although other heavy metals such as lead were found to be within the permissible limits.

The committee also wants that heavy metals including lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic in surface water should be within the drinking water limits as prescribed by Bureau of Indian Standards. “Report of government approved laboratory should be provided,” the committee said.

The ministry has also asked information on how waste generated from construction of villas in Dasve area will be disposed and how it will effected the overall water in the area.

The committee has also sought details of hill station development policy from the Maharashtra government and whether the corporation had taken necessary approvals to develop the hill city project.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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