JOIN USBarely has the dust from the Adarsh Housing Society scandal settled when another land scam possibly involving top politicians in Maharashtra has emerged. This time it is a controversy over construction of the Lavasa township near Pune. Nestling in the Sahayadri hills and spread over 12,500 acres, the township is slated to be India’s first planned hill city with luxury hotels, resorts, colleges, schools, even a helipad. But while executing their big dreams, Lavasa’s promoters conveniently avoided getting environmental clearances. The environment ministry has ordered Lavasa’s promoters to stop all construction pointing out that the works at the project site has degraded the environment and that the levelling of hill slopes will affect the stability of the soil. Besides, construction near a water reservoir will affect water quality and flow downstream. Lavasa has gone on an offensive accusing the government of acting on behalf of social activists.
Failure to secure environmental clearances is not Lavasa’s only offense. It appears to have flouted rules on land acquisition too. Some of the land it acquired is ‘ceiling land’, i.e. land that is meant solely for tribals and Dalits. How did the government give permission for sale of this land to Lavasa either directly or through middlemen? Focusing on Lavasa’s environmental violations to the exclusion of its other brazen breaking of rules will enable many of the big fish in government to get away unscathed.
As in the case of several recent land scams, where beneficiaries were able to get clearances thanks to their political and official connections, the Lavasa project too appears to have had powerful godfathers. Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, his daughter and MP, Supriya Sule and her husband were major stakeholders in the project between 2001 and ‘04. They will, of course, seek to distance themselves from the project by claiming that they have not been a part of it for over six years, having divested their stake in 2004. However, the period when they were stakeholders was a crucial one when the developers secured clearances to go ahead with the project. A full probe into all beneficiaries and stakeholders, present and past, and all violations is necessary. Stern action is essential against those who facilitated the violation of laws and benefited from it. Merely regularising the irregularities and slapping fines, as suggested by former revenue minister Rane is not enough.