Secret meeting at Lavasa lays bare politician-builder nexus

In a new twist to the Lavasa imbroglio, which lays bare the politico- bureaucrat- builder nexus, it is alleged that a secret meeting was held in the hill station, which was attended by the then Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar.

It was decided at the meeting to fast track the project and sanction it various amenities and concessions. Soon after the meeting, government resolutions permitting land use and construction — one after the other — started emanating from the Mantralaya.

Levelling the charge in the Assembly, BJP MLA Devendra Fadnavis said that the meeting was held in conspiratorial circumstances in the ‘ Ekant’ guesthouse in Lavasa. The objective was to remove all hurdles in the path of Lavasa hill station. The Hindustan Construction Company CMD Ajit Gulabchand also attended the meeting. HCC is the patron of the hill station project, which has Pawar’s blessings.

In fact, Pawar is on record having stated that he himseld had suggested the site for Lavasa hill station to ‘‘ his friend Gulabchand.’’ The BJP MLA has further alleged that it was decided at the meeting to give various permissions to the project. On the agenda were additional FSI, leasing out of the Krishna valley land for the project and acquiring further tribal land for project extension.

Decoding the acronym, LAVASA, Fadnavis said the alphabet ‘ L’ stood for Lalit Thapar, the industrialist; ‘ A’ stood for Aniruddha Deshpande, a close aide of Sharad Pawar; ‘ V’ for Vitthasheth Maniar, another close associate of Pawar; the second ‘ A’ for Anuradha Desai, CEO of Venkatesh Heritage; and ‘ S’ for Sadanand Sule, Pawar’s son- in- law.

Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat admitted that there might be some irregularities in the project. However, he said that there was nothing secretive about the meeting and that Pawar had openly attended it.

Former revenue minister and present industry minister Narayan Rane tried to provoke the opposition by saying that projects like Lavasa should be encouraged in the state and said that tribals should be compensated for the use of their land for such projects. Fadnavis demanded that a detailed probe under the Commission of Inquiry Act should be conducted to bring out the truth.

Thorat said he would not comment on the environmental aspect of the project as the case was sub judice. However, he assured the Opposition that an inquiry would be conducted and, if necessary, the 135 acres of land would be returned to the tribals. He, however, refused to constitute a legislative committee led by BJP MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar as demanded by the Opposition, following which, the latter staged a walkout.