It also slammed the Maharashtra urban development department for issuing environment clearance to the project when it had no right to do so.
Lavasa Corporation must pay a substantial penalty if it wants to go ahead with its ambitious hill city project. The Union environment ministry made it clear in its order on Tuesday. It also slammed the Maharashtra urban development department for issuing environment clearance to the project when it had no right to do so.
The ministry’s order, based on a site visit, says that the project violates the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification of 1994, EIA Notification of 2004 and EIA Notification of 2006.
However, in what appears to be a softening of stand, it said the ministry was ready to let the project proceed if Lavasa paid a “substantial penalty” and rectified its mistakes. Till then, the firm cannot move a stone in the project area.
“Taking into account all the facts and circumstances of the case, particularly the submissions made with regard to the investment already incurred, third party rights.., the employment generated and the claimed upliftment of the area.., the MoEF is prepared to consider the project on merits..,” the order, originally prepared on Monday, read.
To arrive at the quantum of punishment, the ministry has asked Lavasa to submit all minute details of the project, as well as an account of every penny spent. “The haphazard way in which the cutting of the hill has taken place is expected to result in landslides, high erosion and consequent siltation of water bodies,” the report said.
What seems to have softened the blow for Lavasa is the plight of hundreds of construction workers and ordinary people who have booked flats in the project. Lavasa Corporation, a subsidiary of Hindustan Construction Company, has already invested nearly Rs3,000 crore in setting up the hill city, which will house two lakh people by 2020.
The ministry’s order, however, minces no word while expressing its consternation with the state government’s approach — starting with issuing an ‘environmental clearance’ to the project in 2004 when the state had no right to do so.
“The powers for according clearance were not available to the state governments in March 2004 since no such delegation of power existed in the EIA Notification of 1994.. no documents were made availabe to the committee regarding the powers of the state government for issuing such a clearance,” the order, based on a report by ministry advisor Nalini Bhat said.
Bhat’s report also mocked the so-called environment clearance issued by Maharashtra, pointing out that the ‘clearance’ did not even mention the basic details of the project such as the number of buildings and the total built up area.
The report also criticised the Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation, a state-government agency, for leasing out land to Lavasa. “It is indeed remarkable as to how the land acquired for public purposes had been leased out by the MKVDC for private use by Lavasa,” Bhat noted.
The order also urged the Maharashtra government to rethink its hill station development policy and associated mechanism, which were found to be ecologically insensitive by the report.
Lavasa, in a statement, attacked the ministry for focusing on legal nitty gritty and “amplifying minor faults” and ignoring the “environmental work” done.
“[We] are studying the order and will explore all options available to the company,” it said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}