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This monsoon, head to Lavasa and experience the thrills of many adventurous activities including repelling, rock climbing, zorbing, zipline and archery with the Xthrill Adventure Academy.
What better way to enjoy the monsoon than by indulging in fun rail activities in the stunning backdrop of the Sahyadri mountains?
Head to Lavasa where Xthrill Adventure Academy will ensure you have a fun-filled weekend getaway.
Xthrill is located within the extensive stretch of the hills of Lavasa. Lavasa is spread across 25,000 acres amidst seven hills with 60 kms of lakefront.
It is a mere one hour drive from Pune and three hours from Mumbai. And owing to its beauty and proximity it is becoming a favorite among Puneites looking for a monsoon getaway. Xthrill makes it a great retreat for adventure lovers.
A project of Z- bac, Xthrill is run under the guidance of Col SayajiNikam (Retd.), GM, Adventure Academy.
Here, one can indulge in adventurous sports like rappelling, rock climbing, zipline and more. They also offer recreational sports like ATV ride, MTB, Archery, Air Rifle, Shooting, Zorbing and Burma Bridge.
Captian Swaminathan, Director, Xthrill informs, “Monsoon is the best season to go camping and indulge in other outdoor activities because water adds to the beauty and the experience. Xthrill offers everything, which families or corporate
group expect during a single day picnic. In India, adventure tourism is increasing day by day. Instead of going to a scenic location and relaxing. People are looking to add something sporty into their getaways and here we offer the same according to their preferences.”
Along with adventure sports, Xthrill offers many other programmes including corporate training programme like outdoor activities to enhance the employee performance, children’s camp to explore their unseen skills and improve their courageous nature, team sports like raft building, paintball, treasure hunt, and wilderness camping are preferred packages that corporate offices opt for.
A 3.5 acre, area is dedicated exclusively for adventure activities with facilities like Swiss AC tents and a dining hall overlooking the beautiful scenery.
Misconceptions v/s Facts
Time and again, allegations have been leveled against Lavasa. These are based on misconceptions. We once again put on record the facts to hopefully put a stop to the endless repetitions of the same issues.
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Let us highlight the benefits of developing Lavasa city to the State of Maharashtra.
- It caters to the growing need of urbanization felt by the whole country, but being pioneered by the State of Maharashtra.
- It will house almost 3 lakh residents and promote tourism to more than 20 lakh tourists.
- Education, research, tourism will be drivers of growth.
- It will boost the economy of the region and the State of Maharashtra, in the process creating more than 1 lakh new jobs for people.
- The development is being done by the private sector without any investment from the Government. The Government invited private sector by creating the policy framework.
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Given below are the frequently raised allegations and facts vis-à-vis the same.
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MKVDC /Government has sold / given land to Lavasa.
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Lavasa has directly purchased 10,000+ acres of land through private negotiations at the prevailing market prices, over the last eight years.
The land transactions have been conducted within the relevant regulatory framework.
Lavasa has NOT got any land on sale, grant or through acquisition from Government of Maharashtra. The Government has not invested in this project at all.
The 141.15 ha of MKVDC land has been given on LEASE to Lavasa. Incidentally 91% of this land is under water. However the Lease Rent is charged on entire 141.15 ha at Ready Reckoner rates.
Moreover, MKVDC also recovers charges for use of water at current rates.
The land above water, 12.4 ha, is less than 0.25% of the total land belonging to Lavasa.
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Lavasa has constructed commercial structures on leased land.
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The leased land, that too only 12.4 ha, has been used for development of tourism and leisure activities which is within the MKVDC permissions. The development includes hotels, convention centre, serviced apartments, etc.
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Secondary dams at Lavasa are reducing the water supply to Pune.
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Lavasa is NOT taking away water meant for Pune.
Khadakwasla dam complex has a capacity of 36.77 TMC, out of which Pune uses 11.5 to 12 TMC of water.
Lavasa has permission to store 0.87 TMC water through its watershed development program. This water was otherwise flowing away over the spillways.
To make it even better, Lavasa will recycle 100% of sewage waste water which brings down the requirement to only 0.35 TMC.
Lavasa is being developed under a Governmental policy and its citizens are entitled to water like any other citizen of the country.
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Stamp duty exemptions given to Lavasa.
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There have been NO special exemptions given to Lavasa
As per Maharashtra Government’s Tourism Policy 2006, Stamp duty exemption is given to any tourism project. Therefore like many other tourism projects in Maharashtra, Lavasa has also got Stamp duty exemption. The exemption to Lavasa has been approx Rs. 5 cr.
In fact, the Stamp duty and registration already paid by Lavasa’s development is approx 30 cr. Likewise, the total stamp duty revenue that the Government will get because of the Lavasa project is projected to be over Rs. 2000 cr.
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Lavasa has grabbed tribal lands.
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No land purchased by Lavasa has been categorized under the 36A category, which is the tribal land category. In fact, most of the land has been purchased from people having ‘farmer status’ who live in Mumbai, Pune, London, New York, Dubai, etc.
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Lavasa is a five-star city being developed only for the rich.
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This is a myth. Like any other city, Lavasa will cater to the entire spectrum of population.
It will have a complete range of facilities for housing, education, hospitality, recreation and tourism for low, middle and high income groups. It will generate up to 1 lakh jobs in the region, thus creating a whole new economy which is inclusive and environmentally sustainable.
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