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The 2,000-hectare Lavasa hill station project has been cleared by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
“The Ministry hereby accords environment clearance for the project as per the provisions of the Environment Impact Assessment Notification-2006 and its subsequent amendments, subject to strict compliance of the terms and conditions ...”, the Ministry order said on Wednesday.
The MoEF has listed out about 55 specific conditions relating to environment, construction, operation and maintenance. MoEF's Bhopal office will monitor implementation of the safeguards. Further, a high-level monitoring committee constituted by the State Government in consultation with the Ministry will be set up to oversee compliance.
On October 20, the Maharashtra Government assured the Bombay High Court of initiating ‘credible' action against violation of the developer in two weeks, and the Court pegged the timeframe for the MoEF to pass its order within three weeks, to run concurrently.
The Court told MoEF Counsel that the order should clearly state whether the application is accepted or rejected and, under no circumstances, will extension be given after three weeks. The environment clearance comes a day before the deadline set by the Bombay High Court for the Ministry expires.
On November 4, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board filed a complaint against the promoters and officials of Lavasa Corporation for violations of the Environment Protection Act at a Pune Court.
A Lavasa Corporation spokesperson said “the environment clearance order is a positive development and comes as a reprieve for all our stakeholders, including our investors, the villagers and Lavasa Corporation.
“The inordinate delay has led to a huge set back to the project and Lavasa Corporation has a challenging task at hand to bring the project up to speed and to meet our commitments. We had started development work at Lavasa in 2004 with environment clearance granted by the Government of Maharashtra and more importantly after being invited by them to participate in the Hill station development Act of 1996.
“We continue to maintain that the MoEF's notification, over which the entire controversy was based, is not applicable to Lavasa. The decision to enter into a constructive dialogue with MoEF to end the impasse was taken keeping in mind the interests of various stakeholders and the investments made till date.
“We are committed to developing Lavasa as an economic, social and environmentally sustainable city and we will work closely with MoEF and the Government of Maharashtra for a sustainable development within a pre-agreed framework, while creating replicable benchmarks.”
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