Kharasrota Drinking Water Project: NGT Issues Notice To Centre, Odisha Govt

Kendrapada: Taking a strong exception to the alleged non-compliance of environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) in the mega drinking water project on Kharasrota river in the district, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the Centre and the Odisha government.

A division bench of NGT’s eastern zone branch, Kolkata comprising Justice Amit Sthalekar and judicial member Saibal Dasgupta issued the notice on October 4 to secretary of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; secretary, Central Water Commission (CEC); Chief Secretary of Odisha; Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) of the state Forest department and collectors of Kendrapada and Bhadrak districts.

The NGT has also issued notice to manager of Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL) which has taken up the construction work of the project. The tribunal has asked all respondents to file their replies on the status of the project in four weeks.

The NGT bench issued the notice in response to a petition filed by Kshitish Kumar Singh of Kendrapada town. Placing the argument on behalf of the petitioner, his counsel Anshuman Nayak said Principal Secretary of the state Water Resources department in the affidavit has misled the NGT and the people.

He further said the ESIA study in the mega drinking water project has not been done. Besides, the monitoring committee for the Bhitarkanika National Park eco-sensitive zone, which gave its nod for the project, was constituted without a quorum.

Nayak also said the monitoring committee’s claim  that the ESIA study was conducted by the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Hyderabad was false.

The IIT has clarified that it has not submitted any assessment report on environmental and social impact of the project to the Odisha government. Besides, neither the state government has written to the IIT-Hyderabad about the proposed project nor an expert team of the institute visited the project site, Nayak said.

The clarification of the IIT came in response to social activist Pratap Chandra Mohanty’s application seeking details about its purported study under the Rights to Information Act, on August 30.

The Rs 892-crore project under the Buxi Jagabandhu Assured Water Supply to Habitations (BASUDHA) scheme targets to provide safe drinking water to villages in Bhadrak district.

The project has evoked massive protests in Kendrapada district for the past two months. During one such protest, the people of Balakati, Bharigada and Barunadiha panchayats clashed with the police, leading the district administration to clamp prohibitory orders till October 8.

Also Read: Kharasrota Water Project: Odisha Govt In Dock As IIT-HYD Denies Conducting Environment Impact Study