Bhubaneswar, May 8: The Chandrasekharpur plant of the state-run Odisha State Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Limited (Omfed) has been caught in a pollution row with the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) slapping a closure notice on it.
Earlier in February, the OSPCB had served a show-cause notice on Omfed for allegedly causing water pollution.
After the OSPCB served the milk producer a show-cause notice, the Omfed had sought 18-month time to sort out the issue.
"But they did not come up with full-proof action plan to sort out the problem, so we rejected their request and have asked the plant to stop its production," said a board official.
However, chairman-cum managing director of Omfed Bishnupada Sethi said that they had sought time from the board.
"We are also taking measures for capacity expansion of the effluent treatment plant (ETP)," said Sethi.
When the milk producing unit started production in the early 1980s, its effluent treatment plant (ETP) had a capacity to treat 200 kilolitres of water a day. However, with the increase in demand for milk, the plant was expanded manifold without augmenting the ETP capacity.
The Omfed is at present producing 2.5 lakh litres of milk using 400 kilolitres of water everyday.
The pollution board's action came as the plant allegedly releases its untreated water into the drainage system contaminating the nearby water sources.
Alarmed, residents living in the plant's vicinity raised concern about the possible spread of water-borne diseases due to contamination.
"The highly toxic effluents increases the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in water and decreases oxygen content. This leads to foul odour emanating from the water bodies. The permissible limit of BOD for industrial wastewater is 30ml in one litre of water, while the wastewater released from the plant contains three times higher the permissible level of BOD," said a board official.
Several residents said the wastewater had polluted water sources near the plant and contamination of groundwater could not be ruled out.
