India News | Power Plant Near Odisha Wildlife Sanctuary: NGT Asks Centre to Take Decision for Project Appraisal
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The National Green Tribunal has directed the Union environment ministry to take a decision within a month for assessing whether a power plant near a wildlife sanctuary in Odisha was in consonance with rules.
New Delhi, Jun 13 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal has directed the Union environment ministry to take a decision within a month for assessing whether a power plant near a wildlife sanctuary in Odisha was in consonance with rules.
The NGT was hearing a petition against the establishment and operation of a private greenfield grain-based ethanol plant along with a co-generation power plant in Banana village of Dumpada Tehsil in the Cuttack district of the state.
According to the petition, the plant was in the vicinity of Chandaka Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary, an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ). But, the authorities concerned had wrongly mentioned it to be outside the ESZ, it claimed.
A bench of chairperson Justice A K Goel said that the limitation period for filing an appeal against the Environmental Clearance (EC) granted to the project proponent (PP) had expired and the petition could not be entertained.
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The bench also comprising judicial members Justices B Amit Sthalekar and Arun Kumar Tyagi along with expert member A Senthil Vel said it was, however, necessary to make some observations, without issuing notice, which were to be looked into and acted upon by statutory authorities.
Regarding the procedure for the project's appraisal, the tribunal said though it could not deal with the issue of the EC's validity, “We make it clear that the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) is not debarred from looking into and taking remedial measures, if any...MoEF&CC may take a decision in this regard preferably within one month.”
For enforcing the Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) condition for the plant, it said water recovered from the process was to be reused for the manufacturing process and a closed loop for recirculation was to be followed.
Disposing of the petition, the tribunal said a copy of the order be sent to the MoEF&CC and State PCB for compliance.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)