The Environment Ministry today said the Lavasa lake city project outside Pune is unauthorised,and directed Lavasa Corporation Ltd (LCL) to maintain status quo,and carry out no construction activity at the site. However,given the major investments and rights in Lavasa,and the employment that has been generated,it is prepared to consider the project,subject to tough terms and conditions set by it,the Ministry said. The LCL project is in violation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notifications of 1994. The construction is unauthorised and there has been environmental degradation and having regard also to the fact that various steps are required to be taken by LCL. it is further directed that the order of status quo be continued and reiterated and no construction activity by LCL be undertaken, the Ministry said. The 74-page order,including annexures,was put up on the Ministrys web site on Tuesday. In an order on Sunday,the Ministry had declared the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society building in Mumbai as unauthorised,and ordered it to be removed in its entirety. On Lavasa,the order said: Taking into account all the facts and circumstances of the case,particularly the submissions made with regard to the investments already incurred,third party rights which are accrued,the various steps taken for establishment of a comprehensive hill station development,the employment generated and the claimed upliftment of the area under consideration,the MoEF is prepared to consider the project on merits with the imposition of various terms and conditions. The conditions include a substantial penalty for incontrovertible violation of enviromental laws. Lavasa will also have to create an Environment Restoration Fund (ERF) with a sufficiently large corpus,to be managed under the supervision of the Ministry. The Ministry would also impose stringent terms and conditions to prevent further environmental damage,and ensure a time-bound restoration of the damage already done. Should Lavasa agree to the Ministrys terms,it would have to submit a fresh detailed project report (DPR),details of all contracts awarded,land purchased and audited expenditure incurred so far,and plans for modifications. The directive,based on the report of a Ministry team that visited the site between January 5 and 7,was signed by Bharat Bhushan,a Director in the Ministry,and communicated to Lavasa yesterday. The Ministry had earlier issued showcause notices to LCL,and the company had explained its position to it on December 9,2010,and submitted a written statement the day after. The Ministry team visited Lavasa on the directions of the Bombay High Court. In its report,the team declared the Lavasa project as unauthorized,and suggested that the Maharashtra government should review its hill station policy and all projects that were already under development. Following the visit,LCL was given a chance to present its case before Dr Nalini Bhat,an adviser in the Ministry,on January 7. Bhat subsequently submitted her findings to the MoEF,holding the project unauthorized,and specifying the conditions it would have to meet to continue working. Reacting to the MoEFs order today,LCL said the order was essentially about jurisdiction,not the environment,and had raised questions over the state governments authority to issue clearances. Their counsel were studying the order,and the company would explore all available options,it said. The key issue is over jurisdiction between the state and central government and not one of environment, Lavasa said in a statement. The task entrusted to the technical committee was to survey/inspect the site and present the report which would be of great consequence to the competent authority to pass the final order. If the report misrepresents the state of affairs at the site by amplifying minor faults and ignoring the environmental work done,it is bound to have a negative bearing on the decision of the competent authority. No consideration,the statement said,was given to the huge body of data submitted on environment protection and enhancement initiatives. and the visual evidence shown to the committee. The entire focus of the technical committee report is on legality of jurisdiction and application of notification rather than the environment enhancement and protection of work done.
