'Irregularities' in Lavasa project: Maharashtra government

Maharashtra government tonight alleged some irregularities had occurred in Lavasa hill city and assured the assembly to probe each and every aspect of the multi-crore project in Pune district.

There were some "irregularities," among other things, in the acquisition of tribal land but there was nothing improper in developing the hill city, revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat said replying to a short duration discussion in the assembly.

The government, he said, was willing to probe all alleged irregularities and there was no question of shielding anyone.

The opposition, not satisfied with the government's reply, staged a walkout, pressing for setting up a joint legislative committee (JLC) to probe the controversial plan.

Thorat denied any breach of norms in the allotment of 141 hectares of state-run Krishna Valley Corporation (KVC) land on lease for 30 years to Lavasa Corp which is constructing the private hill city. It was within the purview of KVC to develop, sell or give on lease its land.

He said that the government would probe whether permission was needed from the revenue department to allot the land.

Thorat said there was nothing improper in the meeting between the then chief minister (Vilasrao Deshmukh), Union agriculture minister (Sharad Pawar) and stakeholders at Lavasa guest house since the idea was to personally visit the project site and get first hand information.

Taking part in the debate, industries minister Narayan Rane said Lavasa was cleared during his tenure as revenue minister in the previous Vilasrao Deshmukh government.

Rane accused the opposition of trying to "create hurdles" in development activities.

He targeted former chief minister Manohar Joshi of Shiv Sena, saying the saffron combine-led government had sanctioned Sahara Group's Amby Valley, another controversial project in Pune district.

Incidentally, Rane was the revenue minister at that time also.

There were allegations of massive corruption in the Amby Valley deal, Rane, now in Congress, said.

He said Lavasa was not just a luxurious residential scheme but would have research and convention centres also.

Rane justified not inviting tenders for the lake city, saying the project was to come up on private land and the government had nothing to do with it.

Government cleared the project since it was aimed at boosting tourism in the state, he said.

NCP members Jitendra Aawhad and Shashikant Shinde defended government's clearance to the project which they said had attracted large investment.

Initiating the debate, Davendra Phadanvis (BJP) said Maharashtra was reeling under two scams - Adarsha Housing and Lavasa.

He alleged huge tracts of land for Lavasa were acquired by the stakeholders without prior permission from tribal-owners, which was mandatory in such cases.