Rathin Das | Ahmedabad | January 21, 2011
Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com

A voluntary organisation based in the city has demanded action against activist Medha Patkar and her colleagues for bringing "disrepute" to the Lavasa project and causing losses.

National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) president VK Saxena has said that the Lavasa Corporation should file criminal case against Medha Patkar and recover the losses incurred by it due to halt of construction process.

A committee of the Ministry of Environment & Forests, headed by Naresh Dayal, which visited the site to investigate the complaints by Medha has found that the Lavasa project has not caused any harm to the environment in the area.

Demanding criminal proceedings against Medha, NCCL president VK Saxena said that many NGOs in the country are acting with ulterior motives at the behest of their ‘masters’ abroad.

The NCCL had earlier filed many suits against Medha for her alleged nexus with foreign agencies trying to stall India’s various developmental projects, including the multi-purpose Narmada Dam at the tri-junction of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

Saxena said that earlier too Medha’s objection to projects like Narmada Dam and Maheswar Hydel projects have caused huge losses in terms of cost escalations due to delays.

The Lavasa project too was opposed by Medha Patkar on grounds of environmental degradation but the MoEF committee has found that no destruction of forest has taken place. The halting of the project since November 25 has caused a loss of Rs 2 crore daily since then, NCCL said.