Ramesh for negotiated solution on Lavasa

After offering a lifeline to the controversial Lavasa hill city, environment minister Jairam Ramesh yesterday said efforts were being made to find a "negotiated solution" on the stalled Rs3,000-crore project in Pune.

"We are trying to find a negotiated solution...trying to find a compromise," Ramesh told reporters who asked him about his meeting with Hindustan Construction Company's officials. The township project is being implemented by HCC.

Sources in the know of the matters say managing director Ajit Gulabchand and other officials met the minister at his office yesterday.

Hope for the Lavasa project surged last week with the environment ministry's statement last week that it was prepared to allow the project to go ahead on "merits" subject to fulfillment of certain conditions.

Under the ministry's orders all work has been suspended at the site for now.

Ramesh said the meetings between HCC and the government were still on but maintained that the government did not want to minimise the integrity of the the environmental process.