Baripada: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has deferred the next hearing in a case challenging the legality of the District Survey Report (DSR) prepared for sand mining in Mayurbhanj district to August 20.
Hearing Application No. 6/2026/EZ, a bench comprising Justice Arun Tyagi and Expert Member Ishwar Singh accepted an affidavit filed by the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB).
The tribunal granted four weeks’ time to the Mayurbhanj Collector, Badasahi Tehsildar, Deputy Director of Mines (Baripada Circle) and the Member Secretary of the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) to fi le their responses.
The case was fi led on the basis of allegations made by environmentalist Bibekananda Pattnaik, who questioned the authenticity of the DSR prepared for minor mineral extraction in the district. He alleged that the report was prepared without adequate field verification and failed to comply with the Sustainable Sand Mining Management Guidelines, 2016 and 2020.
The dispute relates to four sand quarries at Belapal, Pratappur, Sakua and Askanda on the Budhabalanga river under Badasahi tehsil. According to the petitioner, auction documents showed the quarry areas as less than 5 hectares, while the DSR recorded larger areas.
The petition also alleged that important environmental aspects, including a bridge located near the Belapal sand source, were ignored. Earlier, the NGT had directed SEIAA to examine the validity of the Mayurbhanj DSR in light of Supreme Court guidelines and observations made in a similar case involving Balasore district.
The tribunal had also ordered that the tender process for the four sand quarries remain suspended until SEIAA issues its final decision. Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Shankar Prasad Pani argued that the environmental clearances granted for the quarries were legally unsustainable and sought their cancellation, citing deficiencies in environmental assessment and replenishment studies.
