Cuttack: Khurda district administration has ordered a halt to the ongoing construction of a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) station in Kanan Vihar, Bhubaneswar, for not obtaining a No Objection Certificate from the district administration.
In an affidavit submitted to National Green Tribunal (NGT)’s East Zone bench in Kolkata on Wednesday, Khurda district magistrate and collector Chanchal Rana stated that a show-cause notice had also been issued to Gail India Ltd on March 25.
The district administration was asked to file an affidavit on Feb 11 while NGT was hearing a petition filed by 86-year-old Kanan Vihar resident Shukadev Mohanty, claiming that the proposed structure could endanger life and property. Advocates Sankar Prasad Pani and Ashutosh Padhy represented Mohanty.
“The authority of Gail India Ltd has been directed to stop construction work until further order and has been 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 and property of inhabitants of the neighbourhood,” Rana stated in the affidavit.
In his petition, Mohanty contended that the proposed CNG and PNG station is being set up very close to residential houses in violation of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guidelines.
According to the petition, the guidelines prescribe that the distance between a residential building and the petrol pump should not be less than 50 metres, whereas in the present case, the distance is less than 5m. CNG and PNG station should be set up in a distant place for the safety of life and property, the petitioner claimed.
In response, Kaushik Das, GAIL India’s general manager CGD (city distribution)-officer-in-charge of Khurda-Cuttack area, denied the allegations that setting up of the CNG station will violate existing guidelines. “GAIL India Ltd has obtained prior approval of Petroleum & Explosives Safety Organisation (on March 15, 2022) before setting up the CNG station,” Das stated in the affidavit submitted to the NGT.
GAIL India Ltd stated, “The proposed CNG station is situated along the Nandan Kanan-Jaydev Vihar Road and layout is planned as such that the ingress and egress of vehicles will only be from roadside. Further, operation of the CNG station does not create noise pollution as per prescribed rules. In case of air pollution, operation of the CNG station does not cause air pollution and to reduce stack emissions, GAIL India Ltd is planning to install electric motor-driven compressors in the said site.”
Taking note of the submissions, the NGT bench, comprising judicial member B Amit Sthalekar and expert member Dr Arun Kumar Verma, granted four weeks’ time to CPCB and Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) to file a reply and posted the matter to May 30 for hearing.