WHAT IS LAVASA PROJECT?

Lavasa is a private,planned city being built near pune

Free Indias first and largest hill city.

Designed on principles of new urbanization, best

infrastructure, international educational institutions, industries, tourism, comfortable living. Lavasa is situated in an ecologically sustainable environment Over 25000 lakeside apartments and villas with over 50000 employment opportunities available. Being developed by HCC India Lavasa master plan has won 3 global awards

HISTORY
Originally regisitered as Pearly Blue Lake resorts pvt.

Ltd. In2000, the company chaged its name to The Lkae City corporation Pvt. Ltd. In 2004 again changed it to Lavasa corporation. Ownership of LCL is HCC (64.99%) Avantha Group (16.25%) Venkateshwar Hatcheries (12.8%) Vinay Vithal Maniar (6%) The constructions were in violation of the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006.

PLANS, CSR, AWARDS & RECOGNITION

While some sections are complete, construction of Lavasa will

not be finished before 2020. Total population when complete will be an estimated 200,000. When complete it will comprise four or five towns built on seven hills. Planned sports facilities include a Nick Faldo-designed golf course, a Manchester City-branded football academy, and a Hockey Australia hockey academy. A theme park over 65 acres (0.26 km2) in size is planned. Lavasa may go on to host one university. Initially Lavasa had a partnership with Oxford University, but by 2010 this British institution had removed itself from the project. As of 2010, Symbiosis International University is planning to set up a new liberal arts college campus at the township. A 200 acre health and wellness center and an herb plantation are also planned.

 Lavasa Corporation has initiated a number of CSR programs that target Lavasa and its environs. These include providing vocational training and employment opportunities for locals already living near Lavasa and hosting Diwali festivities for primary school students from nearby villages. Lavasa has won several awards for its plans and designs. In 2005 Dasve village in Lavasa won awards from the Congress for the New Urbanism and the American Society of Landscape Architects. In 2009 the St. Louis chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects recognized the Lavasa landscape master plan with a merit award.

BRAND LAVASA
Lavasa Corporation was originally registered as Pearly Blue Lake Resort Private Limited Company, in 2000. The project was a business hotel to be developed on the banks of Warasgaonlake in Mose valley, Mulshi block, Pune district. The company changed its name to Lake City Corporation Pvt Ltd on December 12, 2000. Later, in June 2004, it changed it again to Lavasa Corporation Limited (International Securities Identification Number INE172G01016). The hill station project is being driven by a consortium of companies led by Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), which holds 65% of the stake in Lavasa through its real estate subsidiary HCC Realty. Other investors include the L M Thapar Group and Venkateshwara Hatcheries, besides several minority shareholders with 35% equity.

THE PROJECT IN A NUTSHELL

Lavasa is a sprawling private real estate project, 65 km

From the city of Pune in Maharashtra, nestled amidst 18 hills and 975 metres above sea level. The project was approved under Section 20 (3) of the MRTP on July 15, 2000. Accordingly, the Maharashtra Urban Development Department declared 18 villages in Mulshi and Velhe block -- a total of 25,000 acres of land - part of the project. The completion target for the Lavasa project is 2022. It is being planned in four phases. The overall size of the project is said to be almost one-fourth the size of Mumbai city.

CONTROVERSIES
Bribes for loans

Environmental damage
Quarrying Land Acquisition

600 hectares of land purchased from the farmers. 141 hectares of Lavasa were leased by the MKVDC. 98 hectares of land without license. Nepotism Use of water resources

ENVIRONMENTAL VIOLATIONS
Construction activity is drastically altering the

natural landscape, opening the valley and entire ghats region up to environment degradation. Permissions from the governing authorities, with no strict compliance norms cause enormous damage the sahyadri hills. Continuous crushing, quarrying and ferrying of raw materials in the project area had an impact on the local environment. Construction at Lavasa was being carried out without the mandatory environmental clearance

THE DAMAGE REPORT

The company has resorted to large scale hill-cutting to

extract construction material and for making roads. The removal of deep-rooted trees and large rocks would lead to landslides in the event of intense rainfall or cloudburst. Lavasa, in its submissions to the ministry, said using locally available construction material was more ecofriendly than transporting it to site. People living in the area disagree. the blasting of hillsides for quarrying stone has spoilt their water sources.

PLANNING NORMS VIOLATED

Lavasas plan does not conform to the procedures in the

Maharashtra regional & Town Planning Act of 1966. MoEFs site inspection report notes there is no approved landscape plan, parking and circulation plan or baseline environmental information within and around the site. The original hill station policy permits only 2 storey buildings; Lavasa structures has 6 storeys. Major planning violation is that the buildings are almost touching the water body. Lavasa used a portion of the leased land which was above the submergence zone to construct commercial and residential buildings.

WATER AT PUNES COST

Warasgaon reservoir is integral to Lavasas landscape and its

water needs. Lavasa claims water usage would not affect downstream Pune. 8 dams are being constructed by LCL upstream of Warasgaon dam to store water for the project. These 8 dams will store 24.67 million cubic meter water, which is around 7% of the storage capacity of Warasgaon dam. MoEF fears the check dams will reduce the flow of water in the main reservoir. The pune Muncipal Corporation will recycle the water it draws from khadakwasla dam and reduce distribution losses to 15% from current level of 40% Lavasa acknowledges in its red herring prospectus that water scarcity may be problem for the township.

LAVASAS POLITICAL PATRONS

LAVASAS PROMOTERS

Ajit Gulabchand Chairperson of Hindustan Construction Company Heads one of the biggest construction companies of Asia. Took over The Lake City Corporation in 2004, and renamed it Lavasa Corporation Limited.

Supriya Sule Entrepreneur and Rajya Sabha MP

Daughter of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Sule had a stake in The Lake City Corporation along with husband Sadanand. The couple sold their stake in 2004

Ajit Pawar Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Pawar was the irrigation minister and chairperson of Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation which transferred 141.15 ha to Lake City Corporation in 2001. He is nephew of Sharad Pawar

Madhu Purnima Kishwar Activist, writer Kishwar is founder editor of Manushi, a journal on women's rights. She has been writing articles supporting Lavasa in Indian and international publications

Tavleen Singh Senior journalist and columnist Singh has criticised Jairam Ramesh in her columns not only for stopping work at Lavasa but also for his stance on Vedanta and Navi Mumbai airport

THE OPPONENTS

Medha Patkar Activist and member of NationalAlliance of People's Movements (NAPM)

Has filed a public interest petition in the Bombay high court against Lavasa along with other members of NAPM, including Anna Hazare, Sunithi S R, Vishwambhar Choudhari

Jairam Ramesh Union Minister of Environment and Forests He stopped construction at Lavasa through a stop-work order in November 2010. Lavasa has hauled him and two ministry officials to court for issuing the stop-work notice

ROLE OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT

Facilitating corporate land grab The Maharashtra government notification dated November 26, 1996 relating to the

Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act 1966 that proposed the development of hilly areas throughout the state as hill-stations and resorts is at the root of issues related to land acquisition for hill station development. The notification was introduced to circumvent regional plans so as to make it easy for land sharks to claim the valleys. It has been contentious on the grounds that the regulations have been framed for the benefit of moneyed companies and the commercial exploitation of scenic places. 1. Clause 17 of the notification deprives the collector of discretionary powers to be exercised for the benefit of tribals. 2. The notification also impinges on the provisions of the Maharashtra Agricultural Land Acts 1961, The Maharashtra Land Revenue 1968, which relates to the transfer of land from tribals to non-tribals. 3. The other acts contravened are the Maharashtra Land Revenue (disposal of government land) Rules 1971, the Indian Forest Act, 1927 and the Forest Conservation Acts, 1980. 4. The notification also allows disposal of up to 2,000 hectares (20 sq km) of agricultural land against 21 hectares earlier imposed under the provisions of the Maharashtra Agricultural Land Acts, 1961.

LAND NOTIFIED
The maharashtra government declared around

12500 hectares of land for development. Initially this project was for a small lake city project and later it spread to revenue villages. The land acquisition was carried out by three different departments of irrigation departments, forest departments and revenue departments. The MKVDC land alloted to the Lavasa projects was reserved for public purposes.

Sr No

Name of village

Daswe

Number of cases transferred to Lavasa 138

Number of Complaints filed 2

2
3 4 5 6 7 8

Bhohini
Ugwali Kolshi Dhaman Ohal Gadle Sahkari Padalgad

62
13 16 132 63 104 41

3
4 2 3 2

9
10 11 12 13 14 15

Aadmal
Debalmal Mugaon Palshi Patharset Wadawali Ghod

28
5 97 44 38 75 6

2
1 16 1 -

Total

862

36

TRANSFER OF MAHARSHTRA KRISHNA VALLEY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LAND

The Khadakvasla Irrigation Division alloted 141.15 hectares of

land belonging to the Krishna Valley Development Corporation on lease for 30 years from september 2,2002 to the Lake City Corporation. Excess land under the Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation can only be used and transferred for a public purpose, not for private use. The land that MKVDC transferred to Lake City Corporation belonged to villagers displaced during construction of Warasgaon dam. The company has also got permission from Warasgaon and Temghar dams. It has a capacity of around 11.5 TMC, almost equalling Punes annual needs.

CURRENT STATUS
Development of Lavasa are well on schedule and with

every day that passes, new benchmarks are being created and surpassed. The Dasve town center is currently under an advanced stage development Lavasa has already sold a number of residences, is equipped with 250 hotel rooms, and has a capacity for 1000 students. The Dasve Town is already functional, all structures in education, hospitality and leisure are fast-nearing completion. With most of the town infrastructure already ready, Lavasa is gearing up for the launch of its town, Dasve, in 2011.

CLEARENCES GRANTED
Lavasa, a fast track project Some of the important MoUs & clearances granted to Lake City/Lavasa corporation in 2002-2003 from various departments of the Maharashtra government are: May 30,2002:NOC for development from MPCB. July 16,2002: MKVDCs permission for constructing dams. September 23, 2002: 30-year lease agreement between MKVDC and Lake City Corporation for construction of mini-dams in the submergence area of Warasgaon dam Janaury 2,2003: Tree-falling permission from the forest permission. April 10,2003: MKVDC permission to carry out preliminary works. December 20, 2003: Irrigation department (Konkan region) agreement to construct dams and store water March 18,2004: Environmental clearance for project.

CONCLUSION
The state knowingly ignored all attempts to assess the

project before clearing it. Lavasa flouted several regulations, thanks to state support given in the form of various clearances. Over the past 5 years, attempts by environmentalists, social activists and villagers to raise the issue at all levels of government have failed. Its time the state government made its position clear.