Environment ministry asks Lavasa to give more details

The environment ministry today asked Lavasa Corporation to give more details about its Rs 3,000-crore hill project near Pune, as the ministry has to submit its report to the Bombay High Court by December 16.

At a meeting held in response to the ministry’s showcause notice slapping a ban on further construction at the hill project, Lavasa officials gave a presentation on the various steps being taken at the site for environment protection. “We met the company today and we have to submit a report to the court by December 16,” said a ministry official, who attended the meeting. However, not satisfied with the details, the ministry asked the company to submit more information on the impact of the project in the region as well documents.

Lavasa, in a statement, said: “Pursuant to the Bombay HC order, we were represented by our advocates before the ministry. We made a presentation to the ministry about initiatives to enhance the environment. We will file our supplementary submissions by tomorrow as instructed by the committee.”

The company had earlier accused environment minister Jairam Ramesh of malafide intent, claiming the ministry issued the showcause notice in haste and under pressure from activists to stall its initial public offering, which was expected to hit market by November-December.

“The haste can be shown (in) that before the show-cause notice was served on Lavasa, it was informed to political activists like Medha Patkar and Prakash Ambedkar, who, in turn, informed the media, citing (that) the minister himself has given a status quo on the first phase of the project,” Lavasa had said.