Pollution board serves closure notice on 5 units of Vedanta

Jharsuguda: The Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) on Wednesday slapped closure notice on five units of Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) at Katikela in Jharsuguda district.

The move comes after a breach in the embankment of VAL’s ash pond no-2 near Katikela on August 28 inundated hundreds of acres of paddy fields with standing crop.

Following the incident, locals had locked the main gate of the company demanding compensation. Jharsuguda Collector Bibhuti Bhusan Patnaik had then directed the regional office of OSPCB to file a case against VAL, alleging negligence on the part of its management.

The pollution board has asked VAL to shut two units at the Inspection Test Plan (ITP) and three units at the Captive Power Plant (CPP). It has also written to its regional office to ensure that the plant complied with the directive.