New Delhi, Dec 5: The National Green Tribunal Wednesday issued notice to Odisha, Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) and Vedanta to file their replies in a petition filed against the collapse of ash pond of Vedanta Aluminium Limited in Jharsuguda.
A bench of Judicial Member Raghuvendra Singh Rathore and Expert Member Satyawan Singh Garbyal also issued notice to state pollution control board and Central Pollution Control Board and asked all the respondents to file their replies before January 2, 2019.
The tribunal listed the matter for final hearing January 9
It is to be mentioned here that as many as two petitions — each by Jharsuguda Bachao Samiti and Prafulla Samantra — were filed in the NGT against the collapse of Vedanta’s ash pond August 28 last year. The collapse led to spillage of 42.24 lakh metric tonnes of ash in 115 acres of agricultural land at Katikela village and it also flowed into the Bheden river.
During the hearing, the counsel appearing for Vedanta submitted that the tribunal is already hearing one petition in the matter filed by Jharsuguda Bachao Samiti and the second petition is filed on the same issue after 13 months which is repetitive in nature.
However, the bench decided to take both the petitions together and asked all the respondents to file their replies. The bench would hear the Prafulla Samantra’s petition January 2.