NGOs challenge multi-crore Lavasa project

Activists of various NGOs have filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court challenging the construction of a proposed 25,000 acre Lavasa hill station project near Pune in Western Maharashtra on the ground that environmental clearance had not been obtained from the Centre for it.

The PIL, filed by lawyer Y P Singh, urged that the ongoing construction of the project should be stayed as it has been undertaken without obtaining prior environment clearance in terms of section 5 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986. Demanding a public hearing, the PIL said.

Lavasa city corporation should be asked to restore the environment and compensate the local villagers for the losses suffered due to environmental damage.

The PIL prayed that since the entire area as per the report of the Collector has been shown as forest, all the permissions granted to the multi-crore project be revoked and the entire area should be planted with tropical vegetation.

The petitioners argued there was no provision in law which enabled Maharashtra government to issue environment clearance, especially when there was in existence a distinct law which prescribed that environment clearance shall be given by Union Ministry of Environment and Forests after following the prescribed procedures contained in the 1994 Environment Impact Assessment Notification including public hearing.

The petition said Lavasa township is coming up in one of the highest rainfall areas of the world and is laden with thick tropical vegetation, which has a critical significance in the scenario of deteriorating environment and the highly precarious phenomenon of global warming.