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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | MoEF refuses to lift stay on Lavasa

MoEF refuses to lift stay on Lavasa

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published Published on Dec 15, 2010   modified Modified on Dec 15, 2010

Twenty-four hours ahead of the hearing in the Bombay High Court, the environment ministry has upheld its order asking Lavasa Corporation Limited to stop all work in its hill township project near Pune. 

Work at the 25,000-acre planned city was put on hold by a showcause order issued on November 25. The ministry had said that final order on the showcause will be issued by December 31, provided Lavasa “co-operated and files all necessary documents.” 

Tuesday’s order came in response to the Bombay High Court’s December 7 directive asking the ministry to give Lavasa Corporation, a subsidiary of the Hindustan Construction Company , the National Alliance of People’s Movement and BG Ahuja, a hearing. The court had also asked that the ministry to clarify whether or not work at the site should be stopped pending the final decision. The court directed the ministry to pass the order on this issue by December 16. 

“Criminal liabilities under section 15 of the Environment Protection Act 1986 and other legislations have still not been determined. Today’s MoEF order does establish a prima facie case with reference to such criminal liabilities,” said YP Singh, legal counsel for National Alliance of People’s Movement. 

In a statement responding to the ministry’s interim order, Lavasa took on the same aggressive line that has marked its earlier response. “The MoEF’s interim order is made without objective verification and physical site assessment which subverts the basic tenancy of natural justice. It simply repeats the unsubstantiated and generic claims made by Medha Patkar through NAPM, even verbatim in some cases. We are anguished because despite having repeatedly requested MoEF for measurable and objective norms that guide developmental activities, their order is shrouded by statements of NAPM, which are bereft of facts or credible data,” the company statement said. 

At the hearing in the ministry on December 9, submissions were made by representatives of Lavasa, the National Alliance for People’s Movements, and Mr BG Ahuja. In making its decision, the ministry also took into consideration additional material that had been submitted. Based on the hearing and the perusal of additional material, it concluded that the project lacked several clearances, and the project was leading to large-scale environmental degradation. 

The ministry found that the Maharashtra government issued environmental clearance for an area of 2000 hectares in March 2004. The collector of Pune approved a plan in August 2006 for an area of 585 hectares, of which 47.3 hectares was above the 1000 metre of mean sea-level. The ministry’s order also said that the project had failed to show compliance with the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification of 1994, the amendment of July 2004 and the subsequent substantive notification of September 2006. 

The company has responded to these observations in its statement. It noted that the environment ministry “has accepted” that it was granted permission by the Maharashtra government to “carry out development work in a 2,000-hectare area.” The company statement issued late on Tuesday stated that “we have been carrying out development work within the framework of the said permission. We have maintained and submitted to MoEF that Lavasa is exempt from 1994 and 2004 EIA notifications under entry 18.” 

The ministry has outlined large scale environmental degradation due to the project which includes pollution on account of stone crushing, erosion of bio-diversity, and construction along water reservoir impacting water quality and the cutting of hill slopes affecting their stability. Lavasa has responded saying, “this is a gross misrepresentation. The issues raised are so generic that they are then applicable from small slum developments to large cities.” 

Reiterating the points made in the December 9 hearing before environment ministry officials, the company said, “The Lavasa master plan has won international awards for sustainable development. The Hill Station Regulations have stipulated objective measures for environmental protection which have been fully adhered to by Lavasa.” 

The writ petition filed by Lavasa has been kept pending by the court and the hearing has been adjourned to December 16. Lavasa’s counsel has already made a voluntary statement that no construction will be carried out until this date. Lavasa had filed a writ petition in Bombay High Court challenging the show-cause notice served by ministry asking the company to stop all construction activity at the project. 

In its response to the showcause notice, the company had slammed the environment ministry questioning its authority to issue the notice and timing of this notice.


The Economic Times, 15 December, 2010, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/MoEF-refuses-to-lift-stay-on-Lavasa/articleshow/7102474.cms


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