No damage by Lavasa, says Ramdas Kadam

Mumbai: In a written reply to the Assembly, Maharashtra environment minister Ramdas Kadam on Friday said that there was no environmental damage during the construction of Lavasa lake city project.

The project was criticised and had faced allegations of rampant tree-cutting and violations of several environmental laws. The union government had earlier stalled the project for some period.

However, the state government removed Special Planning Authority status of Lavasa in May this year, bringing the project under Pune Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (PMRDA).

It may be recalled that NCP chief Sharad Pawar had mooted the idea and got the SPA status for the ambitious Lavasa project situated in the verdant Western Ghats near Pune. Lavasa corporation will now have to approach the PMRDA for seeking development approval.

The SPA status was given to Lavasa during the tenure of late chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in 2005. He had held an official meeting at Lavasa with Mr Pawar after which the special status was given to the Lavasa project. Green activists had demanded the removal of special status, but the then state government did not take any action.

In  2017, the PAC of Maharashtra Assembly pointed out various tax liabilities of Lavasa city corporation (LCL) in Pune district, including `3.97 crore of land tax.

The company had purchased 214 hectares of land without necessary permissions, the committee said.