Land grab and dubious political links cloud "free India's first and largest hill station". Spread over 5,058 hectares (ha), the hill station Lavasa is coming up on the backwaters of government-owned Warasgaon dam in the Western Ghats, about 65 km from Pune. Billboards and hoardings along the Mumbai-Pune expressway, screaming out "Lavasa amidst seven hills with a 60 km of lakefront", are hard to miss. Lavasa Corporation Limited, a subsidiary of Hindustan Construction Company Limited (hcc), is developing the project with plush promises of a dream abode. Scheduled to finish by 2021, the first phase, Dasve town, may become operational by mid next year.
The company's dreams, however, have become a nightmarish experience for 18 villages from where the land has been "acquired" to develop Lavasa.These 18 villages, mostly inhabited by tribals, are spread out in the Mulshi and Velhe taluka of Pune district. On speaking to villagers, Down To Earth (dte) found that most tribal families had had similar experiences cheated by local agents, land records changed (see table Owner switch), loss of land, bouncing of cheques, threats and living in constant fear. Mugaon (in Mulshi) is the only one among the 18 villages that has gathered some strength to fight the project. All the 100 families there have lost their land to the company.
Owner switch Villagers allege land deeds have been changed to benefit Lavasa Corporation | |||
Survey No | Land area | Land owner as per old 7/12 (pre-September 2007) | Land owner as per new 7/12 (September 2007) |
50/12 | 6 hectare | Laxman Lhanu Waghmare | Lavasa Corporation |
50/3 | 5.6 hectare | Kondu Dhaku Kokre | Lavasa Corporation |
50/6 | 5.6 hectare | Lahanu Bhiva Jhadav | Lavasa Corporation |
50/10 | 6 hectare | Kashi Ram Lahanu Waghmare | Lavasa Corporation |
50/11 | 6 hectare | Narayan Nahpati Gawdi | Lavasa Corporation |
Note All these survey numbers are in Mugaon village, Mulshi taluka of Pune district. Source Compiled from 7/12 records |
Colonialism is dead. Long live colonialism! |
I had over 18 hectares. I sold it to a private agent in 2002 against five cheques totalling Rs 580,000. All of them bounced and I haven'treceived a single penny for my land which is now in the name of the company. I now work as a chowkidar in Pune --GYANESHWAR VISHNU SHEDGE, a 60-year-old-villager of Mugaon |
I have somehow managed to hold onto my 19 hectares. I won't part with it. Some representatives of the company came to survey myland but I took away their survey machinery. I have three daughters and one son to support --LEELABAI BHADU MARGALE, a 33-year-old widow of Mugaon |
I have about seven hectares, which I refused to sell to local agents. They threatened to get me killed and I had to run away and stay inthe forests for six months --DAGDU BHAVDANI, a 65-year-old villager of Mugaon |
JUNE 1990 Oldest reference to Lavasa-type hill station project in an interim report titled ‘Lake Woods’ by a Pune-based developer Chandras- Kane Group. The developer offered 1,200 plots in 15 villages of Mose valley | NOVEMBER 26, 1996 The urban development (ud) department of Maharashtra government passed a ‘Special Regulation for Development of Tourist Resorts/Holiday Homes/Townships in Hill Station Type Areas’ allowing for development of tourism sites. “… the urban development department is empowered to declare any area at appropriate height, having suitable topographical features, for the purposes of development of Hill Station,” the notification said | |||||
A plan made to order | ||||||
NOVEMBER 1997 Regional plan forPune district suitably modifiedthrough ud department's notificationto make way for Lavasa project | 2000 A new project in Mose valley titled Pearly Blue Lake Resorts Pvt Ltd floated by Aniruddha Deshpande, who is at present a shareholder in Lavasa Corporation | JUNE 2001 Maharashtra government vide a notification declares the area in the vicinity of Warasgaon dam as a hill station | 2004 Pearly Blue Lake Resorts Pvt Ltd gets renamed as Lavasa Corporation |
Villagers say they have lost land to the project, company terms allegation baseless |