CUTTACK: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday directed the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) to submit an action taken report (ATR) by May 20, after the latter filed an affidavit indicating status of compliance of the March 23, 2023 order on legacy wastes left dumped for the past 10 to 15 years in Bargarh town.
Member secretary, OSPCB Uma Nanduri filed the affidavit along with the report of latest inspection conducted at the legacy waste dump site on March 21, 2025.
The report stated that only about 20,000 metric tonne of the legacy waste had been bio-mined out of around 51,476 metric tonne from the dumping site. “As ordered by the NGT, the dump site is secured by a boundary wall of approximately 15 feet height on all sides,” it added.
The Tribunal had directed the Bargarh Municipality to ensure complete treatment of legacy waste through bio-mining/micro composting centres/material recovery facilities by December 31, 2023.
“On the day of the visit it was observed that the un-segregated municipal solid waste was being dumped haphazardly on the banks of Jeera river at various locations. It was also observed that the untreated urban waste water was being discharged directly into Jeera river at various points,” the inspection report said.
The NGT’s East Zone bench in Kolkata was hearing a petition seeking criminal proceedings against the authorities concerned for non-compliance of orders the Tribunal had issued on March 23, 2023.
Taking the affidavit on record, the bench comprising Justice B Amit Sthalekar (Judicial Member) and Dr Arun Kumar Verma (Expert Member) observed that the OSPCB, which is the regulatory authority, was expected to file an ATR along with the status report.
Accordingly, the bench posted the matter to May 20 with a direction to OSPCB to file the ATR by then. Ramakanta Rout and six other residents of Purushotam Nagar in ward no 15 under Bargarh Municipality area had first filed a petition alleging that garbage of around 51,000 metric tonne had been lying dumped at a site near their locality for several years.
The Tribunal had disposed of the petition with a set of directions on March 23, 2023.
The petitioners, however, returned with another plea after an inspection report of the OSPCB on January 8, 2025 stated that none of the NGT’s orders had been complied with. Advocates Sankar Prasad Pani and Ashutosh Padhy made submissions on behalf of the petitioners.
The legacy waste dump sites had resulted in huge damage to the environment and posed health hazards for the people residing in the nearby areas.