Montecarlo Office On Forest Land: NGT Slaps Fine On Keonjhar Collector, DFO

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday slapped a penalty on Keonjhar district collector and Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) in connection with the construction of a plant on forest land.

Besides slapping a penalty of Rs 25,000 each on the collector and the DFO, the principal bench of the NGT, Delhi, directed them to file a counter in four weeks.

Notably, the NGT had directed the district administration to look into the land grabbing allegations against Montecarlo Limited in the district and initiate necessary.

The company which had undertaken the construction of Singada (Mayurbhanj)-Binchbahal (Keonjhar) road of NH-49, later took possession of a portion of forest land to set up its office near Bayapandapadar village.

Protesting against the illegal possession of the forest land by the company, the villagers had taken up the matter with the district administration. When they got no response, they took up the issue with the NGT, Kolkata.

Hearing the complaint, the Tribunal had directed the district administration to vacate the proposed office from the forest and recover money from the company to restore the land to its original status.

However, a company official said the construction of the office began after the Revenue Inspector confirmed that it was a non-forest land.

Besides, Regional officer of the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) Puskar Chandra Behera had said that the consent to set up the consultancy office in the area was initially given on the basis of land documents provided by the Revenue department followed by no-objection certificate (NOC) from local sarpanch at the Gram Sabha meeting. However, it later revoked its decision after investigation revealed that it was a forest land.

Maintaining that the district administration has never allowed the company to set up its office, Keonjhar collector Ashish Thakre said the OSPCB had not verified the land documents properly at the outset. “We are taking action as per the direction of NGT,” he added.