Cuttack, Aug. 31: Orissa High Court has imposed restrictions on sand-dredging operations undertaken near the Mahanadi river mouth by Essar Steel Orissa Ltd following allegations of “illegal and unauthorised” sand-scouring in an intervention petition.
The company, a subsidiary of Essar Steel, had been carrying out sand-dredging for filling up the site for its six-million-tonne per annum steel pellet factory coming up on 1,925 acres in Paradip.
Local people raised apprehensions that the sand-dredging had posed threat to several nearby villages. One Prasanna Kumar Behera and others had filed a PIL in the high court. The PIL contended that the sand-scouring had triggered severe erosion putting into stake safety of five thickly populated villages and nesting beaches of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles.
While notices were issued, the company had filed a counter affidavit and claimed that sand-dredging from the Mahanadi river was undertaken following permission granted by the water resources department. However, Jyoti Prakash Mohanty and five other residents of the area on Tuesday filed an intervention petition challenging the legality of the sand-dredging from Mahanadi river vis-à-vis the permission granted to it.
“The two-judge bench of chief justice V. Gopala Gowda and justice B.N. Mohapatra yesterday issued a stay order on the dredging. The interim stay order will continue until further orders,” petitioner counsel Aurovinda Mohanty told The Telegraph today.
“Lifting of sand from the river is illegal and unauthorised as the dredging was being carried out in the area for which permission had not been granted,” Mohanty said.
The intervention petition alleged that the company in the Work of Right was granted permission by the water resources department to dredge sand near Musadiha only. But, it was carrying out the dredging also near Bidyabata, Agarnasi, Balidiha and Nuagarh.
Moreover, as per the WoR document, dredging in Musadiha is illegal. “Permission was granted for sand-dredging on the left side of the Mahanadi. Musadiha is located on the right bank of the river,” the petition contended.
“Similarly, permission has been granted in the low-tide area while dredging is being done in the high-tide area,” it stated. The stay order assumes significance in view of the concerns expressed over gradual destruction of the traditional nesting grounds of Olive Ridley sea turtles in Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary following the sand-dredging operations at the Mahanadi river mouth.