From: Initiative India <initiativeindia@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 6:25 PM
Subject: [initiative-india] NAPM welcomes Mumbai HC's continued status quo on Lavasa
To:
A Wing First Floor, Haji Habib Building, Naigaon Cross Road
Dadar (E), Mumbai-400 014 Ph. No-2415 0529 E-mail: napmindia@gmail.com
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Press Release
December 16th, 2010
NAPM AND GREEN ACTIVISTS WELCOME MUMBAI HIGH COURT AND MOEF's DECISION TO MAINTAIN 'STOP WORK' ORDER AT
LAVASA HILL TOWNSHIP PROJECT, PUNE
In a significant ruling on the 16th December, the Hon'ble High Court of Mumbai continued to allow maintenance of the status-quo on Lavasa's writ against the MoEF' stop work show-cause notice issued earlier on Nov. 25th. Refusing immediate relief to the Corporation, the Court deferred Lavasa's claim that 'they have received all clearances as per the law and they should be allowed to start work partially' on the ground that they should first submit the details about the type of work they want to carry out on 41 acre area in Dasve village and if (a) this involves minimum damage to the environment, (b) they are ready to do it at their own risk, (c) it will be monitored by the MoEF, then it can be considered.
On behalf of NAPM, Adv. Y.P.Singh, argued that the whole project, on the whole is illegal and Lavasa has no permission of the MoEF and that they should not be allowed to start work. He also requested the Court to view this case from the perspective of gross corruption like Adarsh scam. After hearing the parties, The High Court also fixed date of 21st December for the next hearing.
It is noteworthy that on Dec. 14th, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests refused to lift its "stop work" order issued earlier on November 25th to the lake-side hill township Lavasa, being developed near Pune. The Ministry's order followed the Bombay High Court's directives issued on December 7th to the Ministry to hear all parties involved in filing the PIL. The case by Lavasa was clubbed up with the PIL filed by NAPM and many environmental organizations and activists from Pune.
Following the Mumbai High Court's directives, a meeting was held at MoEF, Delhi, on Dec. 9th, attended by social activists Medha Patkar, Suniti S R and Vishwambhar Choudhary from NAPM and Lavasa's team of officials along with consultants from Vaishnavi Communications, known for its involvement in the 2-G spectrum scam. Both the parties presented their case on whether or not the work at Lavasa should remain stopped until the final decision on the project is taken by MoEF by December 31st.
NAPM has already presented detailed facts and documents to prove how Lavasa falls within the framework of Environment Protection Act, 1986 (1994 Notification, 2004 Amendment, and 2006 Notification). NAPM claims that the project area, at least partly, is above 1,000 metres on the basis of the certificate from the District Collector, Pune. It maintains that with thousands of square meters of construction, 1,600 crores already spent, and more than 2 lakh population to be stationed, the project certainly requires central environmental clearance. NAPM also asserts that the Hill city under dispute is to be spread across 12,500 hectares. But it had received an environmental clearance from the state government for only 2,000 hectares.
On the other hand Lavasa made a presentation on how they have taken up various conservation measures claiming that there has been no damage to the environment, but referring to large-scale investment and beneficial plans. It claimed that they had clearances under the laws of the state, from the state-level authorities and central clearance was not necessary. However, the MoEF was unconvinced with the Lavasa official's presentations and asked them to file all the necessary documents in writing to support their claims by December 10th.
After hearing the matter presented on behalf of both the parties the Ministry issued its statement on December 15th to continue its interim stay on construction work at the project site. The Environment Ministry maintained that Lavasa Corporation has allegedly failed to secure necessary environmental clearances before starting work on its 5,000-plus hectare Lake City hill township project, with the ultimate plan being of 10,000 hectares. It concluded that there are serious violations of the EIA notification due to heavy construction activity, excessive water usage; tree felling, stone crushing and heavy transportation etc. all that can't be ignored because it is deteriorating the local environment enormously. The decision of MoEF means that all construction at the site will be stayed until a final conclusion is made by the month-end.
NAPM believes that the MoEF will have to uphold the law of the land and continue to work towards saving the environment and especially the fragile Western Ghats which is under threat due the Lavasa's massive project related activity as also the upcoming plans for nuclear plants at Ratnagiri.
It is now well-known that the issue involved, Lavasa Hill Township is the biggest project sprawled at the fringes of Pune City. Amidst several hills, involving displacement from 18 villages in Mulshi and Velhe Blocks the project is situated at a distance of 65 k.m. from the Pune city. Developing on the 25,000 acres of land the Lavasa Hill Township is a project of Lavasa Corporation a subsidiary of Hindustan Construction Company.
The project has been challenged by numerous social and environmental activists on the ground of severe ecological violations and issues involving forced eviction of nomadic communities and land alienation of tribal people (adivasis), undue harassment by the project officials of local villagers, cheating by the company agents, obstruction to community access to fresh water bodies, river water and temples, common roads as well as destruction of natural habitat and forests.
NAPM is an alliance of leading people's movements across the country which has been constantly highlighting the issues of environmental violations, issues of displacement & rehabilitation and the issues of social justice across the country.
Suniti S R Vishwambhar Choudhary Dyaneshwar Shedge Rifat Mumtaz
Ph: 09423571784 / 09423965153
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Medha Patkar
Narmada Bachao Andolan,
62, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, Badwani, Madhya Pradesh – 451551
Ph: 07290-222464; Fax: 07290-222549
E-mail: medha.narmada@gmail.com ;
nba.medha@gmail.com
National Alliance of People's Movements; National Office: Room No. 29-30, 1st floor, 'A' Wing, Haji Habib Bldg, Naigaon Cross Road, Dadar (E), Mumbai - 400 014;
Ph: 022-24150529
E-mail: napmindia@gmail.com
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