Cuttack: National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered a joint inspection of a private stone crusher unit at Ameinmunhi in Nayagarh district following allegations of illegal stone extraction, blasting and crushing on two plots and adjoining areas other than the plot allotted to it.The NGT’s east zone bench passed the order on a petition filed by local resident Santosh Pradhan, alleging that the crusher unit was extracting stones from the two plots without mandatory environmental clearances and other statutory permissions. The order passed on Sept 1 was made available on the tribunal’s website on Tuesday (Sept 8).“Prima facie, the averments made in the application raise substantial questions relating to environment,” the bench comprising judicial member Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert members A Senthil Vel and Ishwar Singh said after hearing the submissions and examining the documents. Advocates Sankar Prasad Pani and Ashutosh Padhy represented the petitioner.Accordingly, the bench constituted a joint committee comprising representatives of OSPCB and Nayagarh district administration. The committee has been directed to meet within two weeks, visit the site, examine the applicant’s grievances and verify the factual position.The committee will also “suggest appropriate remedial action” after associating the petitioner and a representative of the private stone crusher unit. OSPCB will serve as the nodal agency.The bench also issued notices to several authorities, including the state forest, environment and climate change department, Nayagarh collector, deputy director of mines, Phulbani, regional forest authorities, ORSAC, TPCODL and the proprietor of the crusher unit.Advocates Rashhmi Singhee and Papiya Banerjee Bihani appeared and accepted the notice on behalf of State Environment Impact Assessment Authority and OSPCB respectively. The respondents have been given two months to file their replies, while the committee must submit its report within the same period.The matter has been posted to Nov 18 for further consideration, when the tribunal will also hear arguments on the plea seeking interim injunctive relief.According to the petition, the private crusher unit had obtained consent to establish (CTE) on July 19, 2022, for operating on a 2.04-acre plot for production of stone chips, metals, bajuri and dust. However, the petitioner alleged that the unit subsequently undertook extraction from two other plots without obtaining environmental clearance, consent to establish and consent to operate.Pradhan urged the tribunal to permanently restrain operation allegedly carried out illegally by the crusher unit, revoke its consent to operate by OSPCB and a scientific assessment by the Odisha Space Application Centre to ascertain the quantity of mineral illegally excavated and stacked.
