Bhubaneswar, Jan 29: Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) today snapped electricity and water supply to three mid-budget city hotels for running the establishments without their approval. The hotels are Arya Palace and Nirmala Inn located at Ashok Nagar and Hotel Pelican at Bapuji Nagar.
OSPCB regional officer Hadibandhu Panigrahi said the hotels did not obtain consent from the board to operate the establishments.
Picture by Ashwinee Pati
"We had issued show cause notices to these hotels in November last year. But, they did not even respond to them. So, we snapped electricity and water supply connections to these establishments today. Our drive against establishments running illegally will continue tomorrow," said Panigrahi.
Board officials hinted that two more hotels located at Nayapalli and three hotels at Rasulgarh would face similar action on Saturday. The hotels reportedly do not have documents related to their sewage and garbage disposal.
However, none of the hotel owners were available for comment.
The board officials have also noticed that three hotels are flouting pollution norms by discharging sewage into the natural drainage channels. Last year, OSPCB officials had served show-cause notices to 83 hotels for running without their approval. The hotels were asked to come to a hearing .
Sources in the board said that of the 83 hotels, 40 had obtained approval from the board while eight were issued closure notices. The board is hearing cases pertaining to the remaining 35 hotels.
The board has intensified its drive against the guilty hotel authorities after the National Green Tribunal last September directed the serving of closure notices on these hotels. The board officials have since been inspecting hotels physically.
Last week, the board had issued closure notices to 45 hotels across the state, including six in Puri, nine in Cuttack and four each in Rayagada and Balasore.
Sources claimed that as many as 650 hotels were operating in the state violating various pollution norms.
In Puri, the hotels were allegedly discharging untreated wastewater into the sea near Bankimuhan. Board officials said that the liquid waste contained high level of biochemical oxygen demand, a chemical content that reduces oxygen.
