Bhubaneswar: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has accepted the fact that the distillery plant near Fakirpur village in Boudh district functioned without Forest department’s clearance and had laid the pipelines through the village forests.
In its final verdict, the NGT has left it to the Forest department to consider the plea of the plant authorities for permission to continue operations. It has also asked the department to decide whether a penalty has to be imposed on them in case damage to the forests.
The final NGT order said, “It is clear …that the pipeline was drawn through Gramya Jungle Kissam land which comes under the definition of forests without obtaining permission from the Forest department as required under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. This is a violation of the law.”
“However, considering the fact that the Forest department has already initiated action towards cancellation of the lease by intimating the fact to the Collector, and as the Collector has cancelled the lease for the time being for violation of conditions in the agreement, the plant authorities will have to obtain permission from the Forest department,” it added.
The NGT said, “So under these circumstances it is for the Forest Department to proceed in accordance with the law against those who had violated forest related Acts.”
The tribunal also said that the interim stay order on plant operations would continue until the plant gets all the required approvals from the departments concerned.
The villagers of the area, angered by the destruction of the forest, had moved the NGT claiming that the distillery had laid pipes for drawing water through the forest area in the village by occupying 4.28 acres. They said it was forest land, and as per law without getting prior sanction from the Forest department using the land for non-forestry purposes cannot be allowed.