LAVASA-ILLEGAL

INTRODUCTION

• project• Worth

Rs.63,000 crores

• Built on

25,000 acres (100 km2 • Located

in

Western Ghats

LAVASA

GREEN CLEARANCE• DEC 2002: state gives provisional clearance three

months after Lavasa corporation applies for it.• MAR 2004: State converts this provisional clearance

into final one for the first phase of the project across 2,000 hectares

• AUG 2009: Lavasa Corporation moves to the state expert appraisal committee seeking clearance for the second phase.

SHAREHOLDING PATTERN:

HCC through its subsidiary

HREL - 64.99%

Other Investors -

5.95%

Avantha Group - 16.25%

UNIQUE FEATURES• monitoring van will act as a

measurement tool to monitor the quality of air in different areas of the city.

Monitoring Air

Pollution

• Facility to supply drinking water through pipelines to Gaonthans at Dasve village in Lavasa.

Drinking Water

Supply

SOCIAL INITIATIVES• a number of development and

empowerment programs for the local community at Lavasa. Key initiatives include:

• education to economically disadvantaged children.

• Creche is a day care centre for the children of labour at site run by Lavasa Corporation Limited. The centre is managed by Tara Mobile Creches (Pune).

• Lavasa Corporation Limited in association with SAMPARC, a Non Government Organization, will set up an orphanage at Lavasa in two years.

• Lavasa Community Development Department in association with Saane Guruji Kathamala (Pune) organized a series of personality development programs for children in October 2010.

LAVASA-ILLEGAL• The Rs 2,153 crore high-end luxury Lavasa

hill city project near Pune has been declared unauthorised by the environment ministry.

• The project can be regularised after payment of substantial penalty and the creation of Environmental Restoration Fund (ERF) by Lavasa Corporation Limited (LCL).

• Union Ministry of Environment and Forest ordered Lavasa Corp to stop further construction owing to violation of environmental norms and unauthorised structures erected by it without any clearance.

• The notice came shortly after Lavasa Corporation was also named in a bribes-for-loans corruption scandal.

CONTROVERSIES• State Policy

The land used in the project was acquired for the Varasgaon dam, the same should used for public purposes.

• Environmental Impact

Lavasa has been granted clearance by the state government as per a 1994 directive from the central government directing state government to grant environmental clearances for projects less than 1000 m above sea level.

• Potential Conflict of Interest

The shareholding in Lavasa Corporation (aka. Lake City Corporation) in the period 2002 - 2004 included daughter and son-in-law of Sharad Pawar. Shareholders also included known close associates of the Sharad Pawar such as Aniruddha Deshpande and Vitthal Maniyar. Lavasa corporation got most of clearances from the state government during this period.

• Water resources

The Varasgaon Dam is a important dam for water supply to Pune city.

Lavasa is situated in the western ghats and some activists contend that it will have a adverse impact on the biodiversity.

• Loan scam

Lavasa corporation is under Central Bureau of Investigation scrutiny for misappropriation of funds through illegally granted loans from LIC Housing .

• The Indian ministry of environment and forest ruled Lavasa hill-city as illegal on January 19, 2011 stating the city under construction is going to result at a potential threat to environment.

ADHOCACY FOR THE PLAN• The State Government has given environmental clearance for

2000 hectares in the year 2004. In August 2009, Lavasa applied to the MoEF for environmental clearance under their 2006 .Notification for project expansion of 3000 hectares. In spite of submitting all the relevant documents MoEF is yet to give environment clearance.

• No weightage or consideration has been given to the huge body of data submitted by the authority who had got the contract for construction on environment protection and enhancement initiatives.

THANK YOU