Chairman of the expert team of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) Naresh Dayal said on Friday that prima facie there was no large-scale destruction of forest land for the controversial hill city project, Lavasa. Speaking to journalists on the third and final day of inspection, Mr. Dayal said that contradictory to the allegations made by social activists Medha Patkar and Anna Hazare, Pune's water supply would not be affected...
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State, Centre spar over tribal land claims by Anupam Chakravartty
A war of words has broken out between the state government on the one hand and Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) on the other over processing land ownership claims of tribals as per provisions of the Forests Rights Act, 2006. In a report, a committee comprising officials from the two union ministries said lower-rung officials in the state have no clear understanding of...
More »MoEF to pass final order on Lavasa by January 17
Bombay High Court gives one week-extension to the Ministry The Bombay High Court on Friday gave an extension of one week to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to pass its final order on whether the planned hill-city Lavasa near Pune has violated any environmental regulations. The Ministry will now pass the final order by January 17. Additional Solicitor-General Darius Khambatta told TheHindu: “The MoEF applied for and was granted an...
More »We are open to correction: Lavasa by Amruta Byatnal
“Mistakes are obviously committed while undertaking big projects and we are open to corrections,” said Lavasa Corporation Limited (LCL) Chairman Ajit Gulabchand for the time first time on Friday since the controversy over the hill city started. However, he added that “these corrections should not make business impossible.” Mr. Gulabchand was speaking to the media after meeting a team of experts from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) which was...
More »2010: Action-packed year for Environment Ministry
The Environment and Forests Ministry was in news throughout 2010 -- be it for Vedanta Resources, Posco and Lavasa -- or for Jairam Ramesh's aggressive green activism. While the ministry rejected the green signal to Vedanta for its $1.7 billion project to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa noting that the company violated the environment and forests rules, it put the $12 billion project by South Korean steelmaker Posco...
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