NGT order casts shadow on Cuttack 'Baliyatra' this year

The famous 'Baliyatra' festival slated to begin from November 14 at the Mahanadi riverbed here has run into rough waters with the National Green Tribunal asking the state administration to refrain from allowing traders from erecting makeshift stalls on the riverbed.
"The Tribunal has ordered us to avoid allotting plots on the riverbed for makeshift stalls," said Cuttack District Collector N C Mishra, quoting the NGT order passed yesterday.
Mishra, however, said the state government was planning either to move the Tribunal to review its order or to appeal against the order in the Supreme Court.
The East Zone bench of the Tribunal, adjudicating over an original application, had asked the district administration in July this year not to use the riverbed as a dumping ground.

The Tribunal had also asked the administration not to have any permanent construction on the riverbed.
Ensuring that the NGT order was not violated, the district administration was going ahead with its plans to allow temporary structures for the week-long festival and accordingly had allotted at least 45 plots yesterday to traders for erecting temporary stalls.
There were plans for further allotments, but after receiving a copy of the Tribunal's order, the plot allotment has been kept in abeyance by the local Tehsildar, officials said.