Hearing a petition filed by five villagers of Udayabat in Paradip of Jagatsinghpur district, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Eastern Zone Bench, Kolkata has ordered closure of the Kalinga Calciner, which is engaged in manufacturing calcinated petroleum coke.
The NGT also issued notices to Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB), Central Pollution Control Board, SEIAA (State Environment Impact Assessment Authority) and Jagatsinghpur district Collector.
The petitioners represented by advocate Sankar Prasad Pani, alleged that the factory is a highly air polluting unit that has polluted the entire environment, the residential houses are covered with layers of black dust and water bodies are also equally polluted.
The local residents complained of difficulty in breathing, eye irritation and skin infection after the unit started operation. Further they are unable to sleep due to sound pollution caused by the unit.
Time to time NGT has directed the OSPCB to monitor the pollution of the factory and consistently the unit failed in complying the conditions of Consent to Operate and Environment Clearance letter. The unit still does not have Electrostatic Precipitator, Additional SO2 scrubber, Waste Heat Recovery Boiler of 15MW which is essential to control the air and heat pollution.
The unit failed in many other counts and NGT found the unit prima facie guilty of not complying to the majority of 47 specific conditions and 19 general conditions imposed by OSPCB. NGT further directed the District Collector to disconnect electricity to the factory and asked the OSPCB to file compliance report on or before May 2, 2017.
The local villagers have appealed to the OSPCB not to renew the consent to operate of the private company until all the condition including WHRB, ESP and Scrubber are installed in the unit.