Cuttack, Aug. 22: The Odisha State Pollution Control Board has attached “special conditions” while giving its consent for the construction of a fourth ash pond for Nalco’s captive power plant in Angul.

Records submitted at Orissa High Court indicate that the board had granted consent “for construction of the fourth ash pond at Balaramprasad to Nalco over 46.90 acres”.

The board’s order specified: “Since there is a village nearby, Nalco will have to explain to them the impact of the ash pond and submit a no objection certificate (NOC) received from the villagers regarding construction of ash pond.”

The high court was hearing petitions filed by nearby villagers seeking judicial intervention against construction of the fourth ash pond near agricultural land and residents. The NOC was issued with another special condition that Nalco “will inform the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) about the inclusion of the fourth ash pond as the same was not a part of Nalco’s original proposal, for which environmental clearance has already been obtained”.

Besides, the board expected Nalco to take “required additional environmental protection measures as advised by the MoEF”.

The division bench of Justices V. Gopala Gowda and S.K. Mishra, before which the records related to Nalco’s fourth ash pond were submitted by the board yesterday, closed hearing on the petitions and reserved judgment.

The petitioners had contended that the proposed fourth ash pond was being undertaken at a place adjacent to Badatalla Sahi, where 50 families resided in their ancestral homes with record of rights.

The petitions centred round the claim that the new ash pond would increase pollution in the locality and endanger the life and property of the people.

The board’s consent order further stated, among its 21 special conditions (in addition to seven general conditions), that “the industry shall furnish a hydro-geological report of the area within two months from the issue of consent to establish and provide adequate channels of rainwater runoff as well as seepage water of the existing pond”.

According to the petitioners, Nalco initially had two ash ponds. But collapse of the embankment of an ash pond in December 2000 had led to slurry dumped ash being spread over a radius of 20km, including the Nadira river.

The Odisha government had acquired 46.90 acres, including some private land, through a notification on August 25, 2001, and leased it to Nalco to provide more space for the ash ponds. A third ash pond was constructed in 2011-12 on the acquired land, which was 100 metres from Badatalla Sahi village. And now the fourth ash pond is being constructed even closer to this village.

The discharge of the effluence consisting of fluoride content from the existing ash ponds had caused pollution in the area and people had been afflicted with bone disease and tuberculosis, the petitioners alleged.