Lavasa: MoEF refuses to lift its ‘stop-work’ order

The environment ministry on Tuesday refused to lift its “stop-work” order on the controversial hill-city project of Lavasa in Maharashtra. The ministry said a final decision in the case will be taken by the month-end after hearing the company again. Meanwhile, in a statement issued, Lavasa Corporation Limited said that the ministry’s interim order was under pressure from political activists and made without “objective verification and physical site assessment.”

In an order, the ministry maintained that in view of “lack of clarity” on the details submitted by Lavasa Corporation and “large-scale environmental degradation” in the region, no activities would be allowed at the site till a final decision is taken. The ministry has fixed December 22 for hearing Lavasa’s side again and an order could be expected on or before December 31, sources said.
The order came just two days ahead of the hearing of the case at the Bombay high court which had asked the ministry to decide by December 16 whether construction at the site should be allowed.
The court order was in the wake of Lavasa petition alleging that the environment ministry has issued a show-cause notice to it in haste and “under pressure” from environmentalists such as Medha Patekar.
The ministry had issued a showcause notice to Hindustan Construction Company’s unit Lavasa Corporation on November 25 asking it why the project should not be done away with for violation of various norms and saying that Lavasa should not undertake construction at the site till it files its reply to the ministry and a decision is taken on it.
Denying the allegations, Lavasa, in its 66-page petition in the court, has defended the development of the hill station saying it was need of the hour as there is tremendous pressure on existing ones in the state.
The petition also submitted that the state government had granted it environmental clearance on March 18, 2004, after considering the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI).
They also received a go-ahead from Maharashtra Pollution Control Board in 2005 and various mitigative measures were being taken to save environment, Lavasa had said during a hearing before the environment ministry held in response to its show-cause notice.
Lavasa also alleged that the issue of “large scale environmental degradation” as pointed out by the ministry was “a gross misrepresentation.”
“The issues raised are so generic that they are then applicable from small slum developments to large cities,” the statement said.

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