Medha Patkar to move High Court against clearance to Lavasa

Social activist Medha Patkar, spearheading the anti-Lavasa agitation, Wednesday said she would continue her fight against the hill city project notwithstanding the clearance given by the union environment ministry for its first phase.Reacting to the conditional clearance given by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to the controversial project, she said the Jana Andolan committee formed to oppose the project would persist with its legal battle in the Bombay High Court against it.Demanding scrapping of the project, which she said had violated environmental norms and displaced tribals, Patkar appealed to all social organisations to condemn and rally against the hill city project.Patkar, along with Anna Hazare, had earlier criticised Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan for adopting "double standards" by filing a criminal case against the promoters of Lavasa and at the same time seeking clearance for it from the Environment ministry.