Holding that Lavasa has not complied with pre-conditions,Environment Ministry today refused to grant green clearance to first phase of its Hill City project near Pune till all criteria are met. The Ministry also said final decision on environmental clearance to Rs 3000 crore project could be taken based on Maharashtra Government's "credible action" on the issue and "subject to the final orders of the High Court of Bombay as the matter is sub-judice". The Ministry's new order came after Bombay High Court last month directed it to pass the final order on regularisation application of the Lavasa Corporation with regard to constructions at township project near Pune in three weeks. "As the pre-condition on the credible action on violation of EIA Notification,2006 has not been complied with,the Ministry is unable to issue the Environmental Clearance to the first phase of Hill City project (2000 ha) of M/s LCL," the Ministry said in its order. "The final decision on the Environmental Clearance cannot be taken till all the pre conditions are met including credible action by the State Government of Maharashtra and subject to the final orders of the High Court of Bombay as the matter is sub-judice," the order said. The Ministry also refused to accept Lavasa Chairman Ajit Gulabchand's contention before Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan that construction had begun in some other projects prior to obtaining environmental clearance. The Ministry also did not agree with Gulabchand's contention that projects like the L&T Park,Kerala and Bird Airport Hotel,Maharashtra had started construction work before securing environment clearance. The ministry pointed out that while the projects cited by Gulabchand were being built on land sizes between half-a-hectare and three ha,Lavasa project was coming up on 2,000 ha of land. "Lavasa's project is a large construction/development project covering an area of 2,000 ha and located in the hilly terrain which involved large scale cutting and filling and change of drainage pattern," the order said. "The magnitude of violation and impact of environmental degradation is spread on larger areas. The pre-conditions are required for such type of projects to safeguard further de-gradation where as in other cases pre-conditions were not required," it said. The order said that the comparison of Lavasa with other smaller project is not relevant or applicable as the projects are totally different and distinguishable.
