Cuttack: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Tuesday banned any programme or event on Mahanadi riverbed and riverbank while hearing a petition on water pollution.
The NGT order pertaining to Mahanadi riverbed has cast a shadow on the organisation of Bali Yatra, the largest annual trade fair, in the city here.
Advocate Shankar Pani, while representing petitioner Bishwajit Mohanty, pleaded that illegal acquisition of Mahanadi and Kathajodi riverbeds in the city here has led to water pollution and loss of bio-diversity. Pani urged the green body to ban any permanent construction and organisation of events and fairs on Mahanadi riverbed.
Accepting Pani’s plea, the eastern bench of NGT in Kolkata issued an interim order banning events and programmes on Mahanadi riverbed. The next hearing on the case has been posted to October 3.
Mohanty had approached the NGT last year by highlighting massive encroachment and dumping of garbage on Mahanadi riverbed. Subsequently, the green body had directed the district administration to take necessary steps for checking permanent construction and dumping of garbage on the riverbed.
Soon after receiving the NGT notice, the district administration had constituted a high-level committee comprising a few police personnel, officials of Cuttack Municipal Corporation and the regional transport officer to conduct regular survey on Mahanadi riverbed. The committee was asked to take action against people who dump garbage into the river.
The district administration had also faced stiff resistance from the NGT to organise Bali Yatra last year after the petitioner informed the green body that the trade fair was being organised on Mahanadi riverbed.
However, the eastern bench of NGT had allowed the district administration to organise Bali Yatra after the latter pleaded that the trade fair was being organised on an alluvial plain close to Mahanadi riverbed.
On the other hand, the petitioner claimed that the Bali Yatra fair ground was part of Mahanadi, following which the green body had served show-cause notices on the Chief Secretary, Water Resource Department secretary and Cuttack collector.
The NGT had also appointed a single-member court commissioner to survey the fair ground and ascertain whether it comes under Mahanadi.
The commissioner had conducted an extensive survey in this regard and claimed that it is a part of Mahanadi as per land records but the sandy plain seldom receives water flow.
However, the petitioner challenged the report submitted by the court commissioner and submitted several documents and photos to establish his claim that Bali Yatra ground was a part of Mahanadi river system.
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