The State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) has closed the railway siding at Jakhapura in Jajpur district for over use of it by Kalinganagar industrial units with least pollution measures.
On Wednesday, the SPCB issued a closure notice to the Railway Station Manager of Jakhapura alleging noncompliance with the provisions of the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
“We closed the railway siding after the National Green Tribunal directed us to take action against the railway siding for polluting the environment,” said SPCB Regional Manager Dr Anup Mallick at Kalinganagar.
It may be noted that Ashwini Dhal, a social worker of Jakhapura, had alleged in a petition before the NGT two months back that Jakhapura village with a population of about 7,000 is having both Government and private high schools and Government primary schools besides a Primary Health Centre (PHC). The railway station at Jakhapura acts as a lifeline as villagers of nearby areas such as Kendudhipi, Rabana, Pankapal, Manatira, Damodarpur, Kumbhar gadia use trains as the main mode of transport. The sponge iron and steel plants in the Kalinga Nagar industrial area close to Jakhapura have come up in view of availability of minerals in the nearby areas. These industrial units have been overusing the railway station, which has no proper siding site, for loading and unloading of raw materials like iron ore, coal and dolomite and, thus, causing inconvenience to the villagers/passengers.
The overuse of the railway platform as storage yard and the village road as a transport corridor has caused a havoc in the locality. Further, there is also no proper pollution control measure system existing in the material handling area at the railway station, Dhal alleged in the petition.