CUTTACK: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday restrained the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) from carrying out construction of a material recovery facility near Sikharchandi in Patia area of Bhubaneswar after a petition was filed alleging unauthorised use of forest land.
The NGT east zone bench order came on a plea filed by Sikharchandi residents Biranchi Narayan Mallick and three others. Advocate Sankar Prasad Pani appearing for the petitioners argued that the construction cannot be carried out in the absence of forest clearance from the Central government.
The BMC has already engaged a contractor for the project work and construction of boundary wall and land levelling are being done on a five-acre area, Pani claimed, while seeking urgent stay on the construction activities.
The petition claimed that the land on which BMC plans to construct the material recovery facility was being used by the people of Sikharchandi for cremation and burial purposes since they were rehabilitated by BMC in the area in 1990.
A micro-compost centre and a high school had already come up in the area. If the remaining portion of the land is used for the material recovery facility, then the people of Sikharchandi will face problems for cremation, the petitioners said.
In another matter, the NGT had on October 4, 2017, already granted a stay order over 260 acres of forest land in Patia area including the patch in question in the present proceeding. The BMC was forcibly going ahead with the facility in violation of the NGT order, the petitioners alleged.
The bench of Justice B Amit Sthalekar (judicial member) and Saibal Dasgupta (expert member) issued notices to the Central government, BMC, DFO of Chandaka wildlife division), Khurda Collector and others while seeking their reply by February 5, 2022, the date fixed for the next hearing on the matter.