New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the state government and IDCO to file an affidavit before the next hearing January 21, 2019 in connection with the felling of trees to establish a bottling plant in Dhenkanal district by P&A Bottlers Pvt Ltd.
A three-member bench of NGT comprising judicial members SP Wangadi, K Ramakrishnan and expert Dr Nagin Nanda directed the parties to maintain status quo till further orders.
“Considering the facts it is prima facie clear that there is a violation of the Forest Act 1980. We direct the parties to maintain status quo,” the NGT said Tuesday.
The green body took up the matter through video conferencing after a petition was filed by Bijay Majhi.
During the hearing, the bench asked the state counsel whether there is any dispute regarding the fact that the area is forest. The state counsel said that before 1988 the land in question was not a forest.
However, Shankar Prasad Pani, the counsel appearing for the petitioner said that it was mentioned in the remarks column of the ‘Record of Right 1988’ published by the state government that the land is Sabik Kisan Jungle, which means that it was a forest earlier.
The petitioner’s counsel also said the authorities had cut down trees when the matter was sub-judice before the NGT.
The authorities had cut down around 900 trees in the area to establish a bottling plant by the Gayatri Group owned by P&A Bottlers Pvt Ltd. This led to a confrontation between villagers and the police and the area turned into a battlefield.
PNN