After the Adarsh housing scam, which is still fresh in the memory of the people, social activists are up in arms against the state government. It appears that nothing is working positive for the Congress or its ally the Nationalists Congress Party (NCP) in the state.

Renowned social activist Medha Patkar on Sunday demanded that the Maharashtra government scrap the entire Lavasa project and said that all those who lost their land and faced hardships should be compensated by the state government. She also questioned the earlier decision of the state government that the irregularities in the project would be ‘regularized’ by imposing fines. “Such a move by the government would be outright illegal,” she stated.

Patkar further said, “The federal Ministry of Environment and Forest too had issued a show cause notice to the Lavasa Corporation Ltd., questioning as to why the illegal structures at the hill city should not be razed for violation of the Environment Protection Act. Similarly, we too question the piece-meal sanction of permission given to Lavasa. In the very first instance we would like to know why permission was given for the first 5,000 acres and that for the rest of the 25,000 acres will be given in phases.”

Another renowned social activist Anna Hazare also lashed out at the government and threatened to go on hunger strike on the Lavasa project issue from Dec. 1. Hazare warned that water to Lavasa will affect supply to Pune city. “I warn that Pune’s water supply would take a big hit when the Lavasa hill city becomes fully operational as water from the Varasgaon Dam in Pune has been partly diverted for the project.

“Pune depends on the Varasgaon dam for water. The state government has constructed 10 small dams in the back waters of the Varasgaon Dam to make water available for Lavasa. And when Lavasa city begins lifting water to meet its total requirement, there will be a fight over the precious commodity between the administrators of the two cities.”

Hazare accused the state government of having exceeded its powers while transferring the land, which was under ceiling, and the land designated as tribal land to Lavasa Corporation.