Address pollution concerns before allowing industry: HC

The Orissa High court has directed the Union and the state governments and their respective pollution control boards to first consider allegations on environmental impact before granting permission for establishment of any new industry in extremely polluted Angul-Talcher belt.

Disposing of a public interest petition filed by advocate Rabindra Prasad Pattanaik, the two judge bench consisting of chief justice V.Gopala Gouda and justice Indrajit Mahanty passed this order.

The judges said, ‘the petitioner is at liberty to move the competent authority and the state pollution control board to strictly enforce the provisions of air (prevention and control of pollution) Act in the area. If such representation is made the same shall be considered before granting permission for establishment of any industries in the area in question”’.

Pattanaik, who is also the president, Angul Citizen Action Forum, filed a petition seeking ban on setting up of any new industry in the highly polluted Talcher-Angul belt on environment grounds. He said, the region has already come to be known as the seventh most polluted area in the country.

The peak temperature of Talcher-Angul which used to be in the range of 30 to 40 degree Celsius in the 90s, is now shooting up beyond 50 degree in the summer due to mindless industrialization. The underground water level has gone down below 200 feet and the water is contaminated with fluoride. If the trend continues, the area would soon turn into a desert, Pattanaik argued in his petition.

It may be noted Talcher-Angul belt has one of the highest concentration of industries in the state with public sector Nalco, Mahanadi Coalfield and NTPC having their units there. Besides a number power plants are proposed to be located there to take advantage of the available coal resources posing further threat to the ecological balance of the area.