Govt may decide on Lavasa hill city's fate today

The environment ministry is likely to decide tomorrow whether or not to allow construction of the Rs 3,000-crore Lavasa hill city project in Pune, which has been embroiled in a controversy for allegedly violating green norms.

“In all likelihood, we will issue an interim order in this regard tomorrow, as the Bombay High Court has set a deadline for us to decide on the matter by December 16 (the next date of hearing of the case)," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said today.

On December 7, the Bombay High Court had stayed the notice issued by the ministry to the Lavasa Corporation, owned by Hindustan Construction Company, asking it to stop construction on its 5,000-hectare township site.

Observing that the ministry's showcause notice was issued in “haste” and without hearing Lavasa's version, a bench of Justices N D Deshpande and D K Deshmukh directed the ministry to give Lavasa a hearing and decide by December 16 whether the construction work should be stayed or not.

The ministry had slapped a showcause notice on Lavasa Corporation because it had allegedly failed to secure necessary environmental clearance before starting work on its Lake-City project coming up in Mulshi sub-district of Pune, around 200 km from Mumbai.