Cuttack: National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed state authorities to file action taken reports on its nearly two-year-old order regarding legacy waste in Bargarh town.
On March 19, the NGT’s east zone bench in Kolkata gave the direction while hearing a petition seeking criminal proceedings against the authorities for failing to comply with the NGT order issued on March 23, 2023.
On Feb 12 this year, the tribunal instructed the Baragarh district collector to explain within four weeks why action should not be taken against him under the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010. However, during the hearing on March 19, no response was submitted by the district collector.
The bench of Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana (judicial member) and Arun Kumar Verma (expert member), noting the lack of compliance, observed, “The counsel appearing for the district collector, Bargarh seeks further time to file the counter. Bargarh Municipality has not submitted any report regarding compliance or the interim arrangements made thus far.”
It also pointed out that Odisha State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), the regulatory authority, had failed to submit any report on the matter.
“Even after two years, none of the directions issued on Mar 23, 2023, are complied with by the authorities. Hence, the authorities are directed to file their respective action taken reports in this regard before the date of the next hearing, failing which, the same would be viewed seriously,” the bench said. The matter was posted for hearing on May 14.
Ramakanta Rout and six other residents of Purushottam Nagar in ward 15 of Bargarh Municipality had filed a petition seeking intervention against long-standing garbage dumping near their locality.
On Mar 23, 2023, the tribunal disposed of the petition with a set of directions. However, the petitioners filed a fresh plea after the OSPCB’s inspection report on Jan 8 revealed that none of the tribunal’s orders had been implemented.
NGT had earlier directed the municipality to install five sewage treatment plants (STPs) of 125 kilolitres per day (KLD) capacity at different locations by Dec 31, 2023. It also instructed the state govt to immediately deposit Rs 1.84 crore in an escrow account for remedial measures, including treatment of legacy waste, bio-mining and other remedial actions for the municipality.
NGT’s 2023 order recommended that one-third of the reclaimed dump sites be reserved for dense forests to compensate for the ecological damage. It suggested using Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds for afforestation efforts.