The environment ministry on Tuesday refused to lift its “stop-work” order on the controversial hill-city project of Lavasa in Maharashtra and said a final decision in the case will be taken by the month-end after hearing the company again. In an order, the ministry maintained that in view of “lack of clarity” on the details submitted by the Lavasa Corporation and “large-scale environmental degradation” in the region, no activities would be allowed at the site till a final decision is taken.
“Ministry is of the considered opinion that the directions issued under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to Lavasa Corporation on November 25 to stop project activities going on at the site should continue till the final analysis is undertaken..,” the ministry order said. The ministry has fixed December 22 for hearing Lavasa’s side again and said “an order could be expected on or before December 31″.
The order came just two days ahead of the hearing of the case at the Bombay High Court which had asked the ministry to decide by December 16 whether construction at the site should be allowed. The court order was in the wake of the Lavasa petition alleging that the environment ministry has issued a show-cause notice to it in haste and “under pressure” from environmentalists such as Medha Patekar.
The ministry had issued showcause notice to Hindustan Construction Company’s unit Lavasa Corporation on November 25 asking it why the project should not be done away with for violation of various norms.
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