Anna slams CM’s support for Lavasa

Anti-corruption crusader, Anna Hazare, has slammed chief minister Prithviraj Chavan’s statement, urging the Central government to give mandatory environmental clearance to the first phase of the controversial hill station project, Lavasa Lake City.

In a letter jointly signed with National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM) member, Medha Patkar, Hazare claimed such a move by the chief minister was unsuitable as the Bombay high court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) on the matter.
Chavan met the minister of forests and environment, Jayanthi Natarajan, early last week and urged the minister to clear the first phase of the project.

“The chief minister’s proposal amounts to influencing the course of justice,” Hazare said.

Hazare referred to a meeting he and Patkar had with Chavan last year, prior to the winter session of the state legislative assembly.

“During our meeting, we had pointed out the various irregularities that the project was saddled with,” Hazare said.
The letter also claimed the office memorandum issued by Mantralaya in November last year trying to regularise the project was illegal. He argued that the letter was signed by a director and could not supersede the gazettes issued by the Central government about environmental clearance.

Making a strong case against de facto environmental clearance to the project, the letter claimed that it was illegal and violated the stringent norms of the Environmental Protection Act.