Cuttack, Feb. 22: The controversy over expansion of Bali yatra on the banks of the Mahanadi here has intensified since the court commissioner appointed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) started his probe to ascertain whether organising the annual fair at the new site has any impact on the flow of the river water or any other aspect of the river.

The state government claimed that the site on which Bali yatra has been extended is "not riverbed but alluvial soil", while environmental activist Biswajit Mohanty has claimed before the court commissioner that "it is river bed whose natural geophysical characteristic has been altered due to illegal reclamation by human intervention in recent years".

The district administration claimed that alluvial soil is a fine grained fertile soil deposited by water flowing over flood plains or in river beds and is governed by the Bengal Alluvion and Delluvion Regulation, 1825, which empowers the district collector to attach and manage such land.

However, Mohanty has claimed that the site within the banks of Mahanadi on which Bali yatra had expanded "cannot be dubbed as a natural build up since it stands on a raised riverbed whose height has been increased by artificial dumping of debris and building waste".

"If the commissioner directs the water resources department to dig shallow pits of 7-8ft in the said Talapadia area (extended site), dumped debris such as old bricks, stones, building waste, etc would be exposed," the environmental activist said in a written submission to the court commissioner.

NGT had appointed Sudhakar Patri, a retired chief engineer of water resources department as the court commissioner to probe and settle the matter. He had invited submissions and started his inquiry by a spot visit on February 20.

In his submission during Patri's site inquiry, Mohanty claimed that the Government of India's Survey of India (2011) "clearly shows the Bali yatra Talapadia grounds (extended site) as the riverbed of the Mahanadi".

"According to Google Earth satellite images of June 4, 2002 and January 24, 2016, Talapadia clearly lies within the embankments of Mahanadi. Besides, a stream of water is also visible which is between the river embankment and sandy bed of the river," he claimed.

According to the most commonly accepted definition, a riverbed is all and the whole area which lies between the two embankments of a river. In the past, Bali yatra was limited to the Killa Maidan outside the Mahanadi river embankment.

Mohanty alleged: "The administration has been systematically dumping debris, building waste, silt from the excavated from the Barabati Fort moat to reclaim the Mahanadi River. This was done purposefully to expand the Bali yatra grounds to the riverbed. As a result, the height of the river bed has been artificially raised by more than 8-10ft at this spot spread over an approximate area of 1.5km x 500 metres which affects the natural flow of the river apart from destroying the ecology of the riverbed."

"The river has not changed its course at all in front of Cuttack city in the areas in front of the Gadgadia Shiva Temple. Rather, the water stream which used to flow right in front of the temple was forced to shift to the middle of the river about 500 metres away by artificial raising of riverbed due to systematic illegal dumping of solid waste over several years", Mohanty alleged before the court commissioner.

The court commissioner is expected to submit his report to the NGT by March 8, the date fixed for next hearing on the matter.

NGT's east zone bench in Calcutta has been adjudicating on Mohanty's petition seeking intervention against encroachment of Mahanadi riverbed, dumping of debris, and diversion of riverbed for various uses, including holding of festivals such as Bali yatra.