Jindal steel plant in Odisha faces closure

The Jindal steel plant in Odisha might face closure for violating pollution norms, the state authorities said Friday.

A team from the State Pollution Control Board inspected the one-million-tonne per annum steel plant of Jindal Stainless Ltd. (JSL) in Jajpur district's Kalinganagar industrial complex, about 120 km from here, November last year.

The team found the plant was discharging huge quantity of pollutants outside the factory premises.

"The report recently submitted to the government said such a discharge was in gross violation to consent condition," a pollution control board official told IANS.

On analysing the discharge's sample, it was found the effluents contained high concentration of phenol and cyanide, hazardous to health and surrounding water bodies, the official said.

The report said: "The discharge of untreated effluent is taking place in a clandestine manner."

The industry should also shut down the operation of coke oven plant until necessary remedial measures to contain the pollution were taken, the team said in its report.

A company official declined a comment.

JSL is one of India's largest domestic stainless steel producers. It commissioned the Kalinganagar plant in 2011.