Cuttack, May 7: Orissa High Court yesterday issued notices to the state government on a PIL seeking judicial intervention against allowing 23 crushers to run without meeting the existing criterion in Remuna and Niligiri region of Balasore.

The PIL had alleged that though the 23 crusher units were set up in the area in contravention of prescribed guidelines, they were being allowed to operate.

Samsan Barik, a resident of Nilagiri area had filed the PIL seeking quashing of the permission accorded for establishment of the crusher units.

The petition had named the 23 crusher units.

“After a preliminary hearing, the two-judge bench of Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice B.N. Mohapatra yesterday issued notices to the forest and environment department, State Pollution Control Board and the owners of all the 23 stone crusher units named as parties in the petition,” petitioner counsel Jyoti Prakash Tripathy told The Telegraph today.

“The court directed for filing of the respective responses within two weeks,” Tripathy said.

According to the petition, the crusher units violated the distance criteria because they were located less than 500metres away from villages. The guidelines prescribed that no stone crushers should be set up within a distance of 500 metres from established habitations.

The guidelines also state that no stone crusher should be set up within a distance of 200metres from the state highway all of them are close to the state highway.

The PIL also raised concerns that the stone crushers were increasing air pollution levels in Remuna and Niligiri areas. The villages were being exposed to avoidable air pollution because the stone crushers were so near.

As the stone crushers are located nearer the state highway, people were also being exposed to pollution due to plying of vehicles on the approach road, the petition contended.

The temples of Khirachora Gopinath, Nilagiri Jagannath Temple and Panchalingeswar are major tourist attractions in the area. But the running of the stone crushers and plying of vehicles for transportation of stones was causing difficulties for the tourists due to air pollution, the petition added.