-The Hindu   Almost five months since having declared that Lavasa's hill city project near Pune violated the Environment Protection Act, the Union Environment Ministry has finally told the Maharashtra government to take “necessary action” against the company. In a letter to the State government on Friday, the Ministry said Lavasa had started development and construction work on 681 hectares of land without obtaining the necessary prior environmental clearance. It asked the Maharashtra...

-DNA   The Pune district administration will issue notices to Lavasa Corporation Limited and others after 10 adivasi farmers on Tuesday staked their claim to get back their land which had been transferred to the Lavasa hill city project. The Maval sub divisional officer (SDO), Sanjay Patil, held a hearing attended by the 10 farmers. Spread over 100 sq km, the Lavasa project is 65km from Pune in the seven hills in...

The environment ministry’s decision to give priority to construction projects with green building ratings may help Lavasa, among others. Lavasa, the ambitious hill city project of HCC Chairman and Managing Director Ajit Gulabchand, has been stuck for long over green hurdles. Though the ministry’s initiative is meant to incentivise companies for integrating green norms into their building plans, experts said the move may give some advantage to projects like Lavasa. According to...

As many as 17 top officials representing the senior bureaucracy are believed to have amassed or misappropriated nearly Rs 603 crore between 2007 and 2010. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has submitted a list of the officials under investigation to the parliamentary committee on assurances. The CBI says these officers had misappropriated funds from the exchequer and entered into criminal conspiracies by making huge illegal financial transactions. The CBI says it...

Over seven lakh calls to a phone number set up to register the number of supporters for an anti-corruption movement. Schoolchildren who have swapped their cricketing heroes for a 78-year-old Gandhian who is fasting unto death. Cries castigating Manmohan Singh's effeteness being greeted by a roar in the swelling crowds. And a mostly-out-of work Uma Bharti scouting for a photo-op but barely managing one. At Jantar Mantar, the site of Anna...