Lavasa chairman meets Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi, Jan 25 (ANI): Ajit Gulabchand, the chairman of the troubled hill township 'Lavasa' met Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh in New Delhi.

After the meeting, Gulabchand said the talks with the Minister are an effort to find an amicable solution on the issue.

"I had meetings with Jairam Ramesh. We have been discussing how to find an amicable solution to the issue and we are in the process," he said.

Earlier addressing a conference, Gulabchand said there were some minor environmental violations, which had been magnified.

Asserting that the project had taken into consideration issues of all locals and was already providing employment to several of them, he said, "We are awaiting the Maharashtra government's permission to provide electricity to them."

The fate of Lavasa, planned across 25,000 acres in Baramati district near Pune, hangs in balance after objections were raised over the ecological impact of the project by MoEF and several non-government organizations.

Earlier, the eleven-EAC led by Naresh Dayal last week visited the Lavasa and submitted its report to the MoEF on January 10.

The construction of the project was held up for want of environmental clearance.

On November 25, the MoEF had issued a stop-work notice for the Lavasa project saying it violated some environmental rules.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests had stayed construction work at the site alleging that Lavasa Corporation had violated the ministry notifications issued in 2004.

The court had earlier directed Lavasa to approach the ministry by December 9 regarding the stay imposed on the work and directed the ministry to pass an order on it by December 16.

However, the Ministry refused to vacate the stay and reply to the show cause notice. (ANI)