CUTTACK: Following allegations of setting up a compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG) station in close vicinity to a residential area at Kanan Vihar in the capital city, the district administration has asked GAIL India Ltd to stop the constructions with immediate effect.
Khurda collector Chanchal Rana informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that construction work for the CNG & PNG station was being carried out without obtaining no objection certificate (NOC) from the district administration.
“Hence, the authority of GAIL India Ltd has been directed to stop construction work until further orders, and issued notice to submit show cause as to why action as per law shall not be taken for such illegal construction without having valid permission, thereby, endangering the life & property of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood,” Rana said in an affidavit.
The district administration issued the show cause notice on March 25, 2025. The affidavit was filed in reply to a petition that sought intervention against construction of the depot for supply of CNG to the vehicles and PNG to the residential houses through pipeline for domestic use in a residential area.
Shukadev Mohanty, an 86-year-old resident of the locality, had filed the petition. The bench comprising B Amit Sthalekar (Judicial Member) and Dr Arun Kumar Verma (Expert Member) took the affidavit on record and posted the matter to May 30 for further consideration. The bench allowed GAIL counsel to re-file the counter affidavit on behalf of zonal general manager.
According to the petition, the proposed CNG and PNG station is being set up very close to residential houses in violation of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guidelines. The guidelines prescribe that the distance between a residential building and the petrol pump installation site should not be less than 50 metre whereas in the present case the distance between the residential houses and the proposed CNG station site is less than 5 metre.
CNG and PNG station should be set up in a distant place for the safety of life and property of locality, the petition said.