ARINDAM GANGULY, OP
Bhubaneswar: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has served a notice to the Chief Secretary, requesting a response to a petition challenging the encroachment of the Luna riverbed at Badapal in the Marshaghai Tahasil of Kendrapara district by Rajbir Construction Pvt Ltd, Jharkhand.
The Forest and Environment Department, District Magistrate Kendrapara, Marshaghai Tahasildar, Odisha State Pollution Control Board, State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), and the Water Resources Department were also included as respondents. The Eastern Zone Bench of the NGT, while hearing a petition by Alaya Samantaray, a resident of Marshaghai, directed the authorities to submit replies within four weeks. The petitioner alleged that Rajbir Construction, the contractor for a 21km stretch of NH-53 (Chandikhole-Paradeep), had illegally encroached upon the floodplain of the Luna River and set up site camps, batching plants, and structures for parking vehicles and machinery. The construction activities, including dumping sand and stone chips, have been disrupting the river’s flow and harming the ecosystem. Samantaray further noted that illegal constructions were taking place on Plot No. 705/861 (18.74 acres) and Plot No. 333 (21.6 acres), with no clearance from the Water Resources Department or the Tahasildar of Marshaghai.
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The petitioner pointed out that an April 2024 letter from the Assistant Executive Engineer, Patkura Irrigation Sub-Division, to the Tahasildar flagged these unauthorized activities but no action was taken. Similarly, a May 2024 communication from the Superintending Engineer, Kendrapara Irrigation, urging a joint inspection of the area also yielded no response. An RTI query to the Odisha State Pollution Control Board revealed that Rajbir Construction had not been issued Consent to Establish (CTE) or Consent to Operate (CTO). The tribunal has scheduled the next hearing for January 27, 2025, to further consider the matter.