Clear Lavasa first phase: Prithiviraj Chavan

Maharashtra chief minister Prithiviraj Chavan describes his meeting with the union environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan as a coincidence.

Chavan met her a day after union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar came calling at Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s 10 Janpath residence.

Equally strange is the coincidence that Chavan has made a strong pitch for the controversial Lavasa project. “I have urged Natarajan to give the clearance for the first phase of this project,” he told media.

Chavan took pains to rationalise his decision. “We do not work on common sense. We work on the basis of laws.” He said the central government had stipulated six conditions for granting permission to the first phase. “One of these conditions is that the state government should register a case against Lavasa for violation of the environment protection act. As per the directives of the High Court, we have done that,” he added.

Chavan dismissed all suggestions of any link between his meeting with Natarajan and Pawar’s meeting with Gandhi. Chavan said he has held meetings with union ministers Pranab Mukherjee and Sharad Pawar.