Cuttack, Dec. 22: Orissa High Court has refused to sanction the ongoing construction of fourth ash pond for Nalco’s captive power plant in Odisha’s Angul district.

The Odisha State Pollution Control Board had granted Nalco the consent for construction of the fourth ash pond at Balaramprasad over an area of 46.90 acres.

The court, however, invalidated the clearance given by the board for it and issued a direction on Thursday to stop the ongoing construction.

A batch of petitions by nearby villagers had contended that work on the fourth ash pond had been undertaken adjacent to their hamlet (Badatalla Sahi) where 50 families are residing in their ancestral homes with records of rights. The grievance of the petitioners centred round the contention that the new ash pond will increase both air and water pollution hazards in the locality and endanger the life and property of the people.

The court had asked the board to submit the records and inspection report along with the entire records related to expansion of Nalco’s ash pond at Balaramprasad.

“While disposing of the petitions, the division bench of Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice S.K. Mishra observed that the state pollution control board had allowed the fourth ash pond without following appropriate procedure and ordered to stop the construction,” petitioner’s counsel Sarbeswar Behera told The Telegraph today.

“The court allowed the board the power to give clearance for the expansion of Nalco’s ash pond only after following proper procedure,”

Behera said. The petitions had pointed out that Nalco initially had two ash ponds. But collapse of embankment of an ash pond in December 2000 had led to spread of dumped ashes in slurry form over a radius of 20km, including the Nadira river.