CUTTACK: Establishment of a common hazardous waste treatment and disposal facility at Patarapada in Parjang block of Dhenkanal district has come under scrutiny with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) issuing notices to all parties concerned.
Basing on a petition filed by Prakash Chandra Nayak and five other residents of Parjang after a preliminary hearing on April 12, NGT’s East Zone Bench in Kolkata issued notices to secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, additional chief secretary, Forest and Environment department, additional chief secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management department, Dhenkanal collector, DFO, MD, IDCO and MD, Western Integrated Waste Management Facility Pvt Ltd.
Petitioners’ counsel, advocate Sankar Prasad Pani sought intervention against establishment of a project which Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) was facilitating for Western Integrated Waste Management Facility Pvt Ltd by illegal diversion of forest land. The lease granted in favour of IDCO and subsequent transfer to Western Integrated Waste Management Facility Pvt Ltd is liable to be held and declared for want of forest clearance, Pani argued.
The bench of B Amit Sthalekar and Dr Afroz Ahmad took cognizance and issued notice. As per the petition hazardous waste will be collected from Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Bargarh, Bolangir, Sambalpur, Angul, Keonjhar and Deogarh districts and dumped at the site spread over 27 acre.The 20,000 tonne per annum capacity unit will process and land fill the waste at the site for 25 years and a total of 5 lakh metric tonne of hazardous waste will be landfilled/buried at the site.
The petition further pointed out a elephant pathway crosses through the project site. Consequently, the project will obstruct the movement of elephants leading to more man-elephant conflicts in the region. Objections have already been raised before the authorities on the impact of the project on movement of elephants, the petition said.