Jajpur: In a bid to seize the five illegal coal tar pitch plants under Dharmasala tehsil in the district, Collector Ranjan Kumar Das has formed two special squads, which will be led by Rasulpur tehsildar and State Pollution Board (SPCB), Kalinganagar branch officer.
The two squads will cut the electricity supply to the plants and seize the machineries in the plants. The Collector instructed the two officials to produce updated reports of the seize operation.
Sources said coal tar pitch plants are operating in Rathia, Sorai, Mandia and Balisahi panchayats of the block without the required environment clearance. After repeated allegations from the locals, a show cause notice was sent to those five plants from the regional office of the State Pollution Control Board. But the plants could not produce any argument in their favour or challenge the notices.
As a result the plants have been asked through an official notice to stop the works there but the plant owners have ignored the notice.
The State Pollution Control Board has turned into a mute spectator even as the plants are manufacturing black pitch by disregarding environmental norms.
Notably, Squad-1 is led by SPCB environmental engineer Madanmohan Sahoo while Squad-2 is led by Rasulpur tehsildar Joytikanta Bhujabal.
However, no particular date has been selected for the seize operation. The tehsildar of Dharmasala had informed the Collector regarding the operation of five illegal plants. After 40 days of receiving the letter, the Collector had taken the action and formed two squads.
Sources said some influential people are manufacturing coal tar pitch near the national highway 16 and vicinity. As a result the people near the plants are suffering a lot from the pollution by the plants.
The district administration has been deciding to take action against these illegal plants since 2017 but no substantial steps have taken by the administration as of yet, it is alleged.
In this situation, the locals have raised question on the efficiency of these two squads. When SPCB, Kalinganagar branch officer Pramod Kumar Behera was asked, he replied, “We will take steps against the plants as per the instruction of the Collector.”