The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Chief Secretary of the State and Member-Secretary of the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) to submit a status report and an action-taken report (ATR) about the operation of illegal brick kilns in Ganjam district.
The tribunal has even directed the Government to close the illegal units within the stipulated period on August 6, 2015.
It also directed the OSPCB and the Ganjam Collector to submit detail action taken report against the brick kiln owners, who are continuing their operation in the district without taking consent to establish and operate from the OSPCB as well as trade license from appropriate authority.
During the hearing of the case on this July 15, OSPCB counsel Papiya Banerjee Bihani filed an affidavit in the tribunal and stated that 98 illegal brick kilns were operating across the Ganjam district. While petitioner Bishnu Prasad Misro’s lawyer Biranchi Narayan Mahapatra said the number of illegal brick kilns operating in the district was more than the data provided by the Government.
In the tribunal, Mahapatra had raised objection against the State Government for deliberately not submitting status report and ATR in this regard as per the earlier direction given by the tribunal on May 6. Next hearing of the case would be held on August 6, said Mahapatra.