Cuttack, May 15: Orissa High Court today set a five-day deadline for removal of sewage from the primary sedimentation tank of the wastewater treatment facility at Markat Nagar to facilitate survey for revival of the plant.

The plant, situated at the satellite township developed by the Cuttack Development Authority on the southwestern fringe of the city, has not been functioning for the past 15 years.

The order was issued after the Odisha Water Supply and Sewerage Board informed the court that inspection for technical and financial estimate for revival of the plant had not been possible as the main tank was still full of muck and sludge.

The board expected the Cuttack Municipal Corporation to remove the sewage. The civic body authorities, however, said there was lack of required machinery to remove such large amount of sewage.

The division bench of Justice M.M. Das and Justice Indrajit Mohanty assigned responsibility and accountability to water board, the corporation and the development authorities to clear the tank within five days.

The bench further directed the secretary of the urban and housing development department to ensure compliance of the order while granting two weeks time to the water board to submit the revival plan.

The court was taking stock of compliance of order issued to the water board on May 2 to submit a detailed plan indicating how the wastewater treatment plant could be revived.

The board today said that the revival of the treatment plant was feasible, but nearly 50 per cent of the existing wastewater treatment system had to be dismantled. But for a detailed plan, inspection to draw up a technical and financial estimate and removal of the sewage in the tank was necessary.

The tank has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and the wastewater generated was being discharged to the nearby natural water body Peta Nullah. The court has been monitoring civic work in Markatnagar for over a year now.

As part of the monitoring process, the two judges had made an on-the-spot inspection of the present civic amenities in Markatnagar on April 12.

Earlier, the water board had stated that the existing treatment plant would be upgraded for treatment of sewage as part of the Japan International Cooperation Agency project that would be implemented shortly.

However, the court expressed surprise that the board had no plans for treatment of wastewater generated at various sectors in the interim period till the new treatment plant was set up.

The existing treatment plant was set up to provide a well-planned sewerage system to the residents of Markatnagar. “Public money should be protected,” the bench said.

Markatnagar was developed by the development authorities at the Bidanasi housing project area with proper city planning, including all civic amenities under plotted scheme with sectors, as model residential zones. With continuous expansion and addition of more sectors over the past two decades, the township presently houses more than one lakh people.