Lavasa is a private, planned city being built near Pune. It is a project being developed by Hindustan Construction Company(HCC).
Lavasa city has been designed on the principles of new urbanism. Originally registered as Pearly Blue Lake Resorts Pvt Ltd in 2000, the company changed its name to The Lake City Corporation Pvt Ltd later that year and around 2004 changed it again to its current name, Lavasa Corporation.
The principles of New Urbanism are
Commuting: Most things are within a 10 minute radius from home or work Connectivity: A network of streets, boulevards and alleys to easily disperse traffic Mixed Use and Diversity: A melting pot of inhabitants from all walks of life and a mix of commercial and residential premises within neighborhoods, blocks and apartments Mixed Housing: A range of living spaces based on a variety of factors - size, proximity to the town centre, type, price and income groups Quality Architecture and Urban Design: Detailed attention to aesthetics and human comfort Traditional Neighbourhood Structuring: A discernable city centre and more open public spaces that encompass a range of uses and densities Planned Increased Density: Transect Planning, wherein population density decreases progressively as it moves away from the town centre
ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT: Restriction on the dereservation of forests or use of forest land for non-forest purpose. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force in a State, no State Government or other authority shall make, except with the prior approval of the Central Government, any order directing(i) that any reserved forest (within the meaning of the expression "reserved forest" in any law for the time being in force in that State) or any portion thereof, shall cease to be reserved; (ii) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be used for any non-forest purpose; (iii) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be assigned by way of lease or otherwise to any private person or to any authority, corporation, agency or any other organisation not owned, managed or controlled by Government; (iv) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be cleared of trees which have grown naturally in that land or portion, for the purpose of using it for reafforestation.
Explanation - For the porpose of this section, "non-forest purpose" means the breaking up or clearing of any forest land or portion thereof for(a) the cultivation of tea, coffee, spices, rubber, palms, oil-bearing plants, horticultural crops or medicinal plants; (b) any purpose other than reafforestation; but does not include any work relating or ancillary to conservation, development and management of forests and wildlife, namely, the establishment of check-posts, fire lines, wireless communications and construction of fencing, bridges and culverts, dams, waterholes, trench marks, boundary marks, pipelines or other like purposes. Lavasa will use the same water resources that currently supply Pune, and it is claimed that this will cause a supply shortage. Lavasa has built 8 small dams blocking the water. the company has resorted to large scale hill-cutting to extract construction material and for making roads. This has rendered the hills barren. The Pune collector had granted LCL lease to quarry minor minerals like stones. The ministry report says the haphazard hill cutting is expected to result in landslides, high erosion, and consequent siltation of water bodies. The removal of deep-rooted trees and large rocks would lead to landslides in the event of intense rainfall or cloudburst. COURSE OF ACTION: MoEF(Ministry of Environment and forest) had put five pre-conditions. Initially, Lavasa Corporation accepted all the pre-conditions, but later they violated a law. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) on Friday filed a criminal complaint against Lavasa Corporation and 15 people, including nine directors and six senior officials, for alleged violation of environmental laws. EFFECTS: People from the neighbouring villages were given employment in lavasa. After the stop order given by the government construction work has come to a halt. Now they are facing unemployment. Now they dont have their land to do farming as well. Clients and customers are deserting the hill station. One of its high profile institutes in the first phase has abandoned Lavasa. Le Mont High School, a co-educational, residential school, which began its first academic session, has suspended its operations in Lavasa. The Company has also suffered a lot of monetary loss bcos of this. Shares have fallen.
