Cuttack, Feb. 18: The National Green Tribunal has taken serious note of the alleged illegal use of minor minerals in the expansion of NH-23/200 and directed the state government to submit an action taken report on the alleged violations.
In its interim order, the tribunal's east zone bench in Calcutta has also directed revenue authorities to stop expansion on the Chandikhole-Talcher stretch if inquiries indicated use of soil and minor minerals in road construction without environmental clearance.
The tribunal issued its order following Keonjhar-based social activist Sasee Bhoosan Pattanayak's petition seeking intervention against the illegal use of minor minerals extracted without environmental clearance in the project at Dharmasala tehsil in Jajpur district.
The 133km NH-23/200 runs from Chandikhole to Talcher. In his petition, Pattanayak alleged that the 25km stretch from Chandikhole to the Brahmani bridge, which is 15m wide and 3m high, had been packed with tonnes of soil and morrum. Responses sought from the authorities indicated that no clearance had been issued for extraction of earth or minor minerals for the project.
Pattanayak also alleged that there had been unauthorised extraction of earth at Kantapada, Kusumpur, Chak-radharpur, Baghua, Balisahi, Chadeidhara, Barada, Jhatipada, Mandia, Aarua, Kabatbandha, Pakhara, Osara, Purunabahala and Ramchandrapur under the tehsil.
Justice S.P. Wangdi, judicial member of the tribunal bench, said: "In the event, the facts stated in the petition are found to be correct, the tehsildar (Dharmasala) shall ensure that no further work is carried on at the stretch from Chandikhole to Talcher."
"While issuing the interim order on February 7, the tribunal posted the matter to March 21, along with the state's report on the violations alleged and action taken report," petitioner counsel Sankar Prasad Pani said. The petition has also sought the tribunal's direction for an inquiry by an independent agency into the quantum of soil and minor minerals already used in the project and set up a committee to assess its ecological impact.
