Joda: Acting on order of National Green Tribunal (NGT), a high-level team has conducted a probe into the transportation of minerals through slurry pipelines passing through Joda town and forested villages of Keonjhar district. Directed by NGT, the team comprising senior administrative officials and engineers reached Joda Thursday (October 27) and conducted a survey of the pipeline. The team led by Keonjhar ADM Chandramani Mahal and including Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) senior officer Sandip Singh, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Kolkata scientist GP Singh, Water Resources officer Pranab Nayak and SPCB regional officer Prasant Kar conducted a survey of the river through computers.
Notably, NGT ordered a probe over complaints filed before it on the basis of a report titled ‘Stir over pollution in rivers Suna, Karo gains pace’ published in Orissa POST editions dated July 10 and August 12, 2019. The team members also visited the spot where the riverbed of Suna has been excavated with the help of an excavator for laying of a slurry pipeline. They expressed their displeasure over the development. As per reports, various big firms prepare slurry of minerals by using freshwater from rivers and transport it to their respective units at Paradip and Jajpur through the pipelines.
Meanwhile, some companies have been laying the pipelines by digging the ground and the riverbed. However, natural resources like land, water and forest covers get destroyed during the process. Laying of pipelines is also impacting the elephant corridors in the district and polluting the river which is the lifeline of people living in the vicinity. Such a move by the industrial firms has evoked sharp reactions from various outfits. The outfits have called for an agitation demanding protection of the rivers from pollution arising out of the transportation of minerals through slurry pipelines.
Two non-governmental outfits Lokshakti and Jan Andolan Rashtriya Samannwaya Samiti also called for a ‘padyatra’ in protest against the river pollution. Transportation of minerals through slurry pipelines has also affected the livelihood of truck owners in Koira of Sundargarh district, Guali, Bhadrasahi, Barbil, Joda, Bileipada, Jurudi, Bamebari, Keonjhar of Keonjhar district, Chandikhole of Jajpur district and Paradip of Jagatsinghpur district. They are strongly opposing the laying of pipelines.