Lavasa green nod deferred

In another setback to Lavasa Corporation Limited, the expert appraisal committee (EAC) of the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has deferred environmental clearance to the first phase of India’s maiden hill city. In its recent meeting, the committee raised several doubts over the environment impact assessment (EIA) report submitted by the developer.

On February 14, Lavasa had applied for environmental clearance for the first phase of its project spread over 2,000 hectare. The project is estimated to cost about Rs2,824 crore. While expressing doubts over the EIA report, the EAC noted that the project involves activities relating to different areas of environmental concern.

Hence, it wanted the impact assessment study to be carried out by a team of experts from different disciplines.

The committee wants the study should be to be carried out in all the four seasons for two years to decide what kind of developmental activities can be taken up in the area.