NGT,Stayed Tree Felling & Construction Work of Sponge Iron Plant in Sundergarh
Bureau,Odishabarta
Bhubaneswar:The ongoing Tree felling and land development work of proposed sponge iron plant and iron ore beneficiation got a big blow on Friday when NGT Kolkata has stated the tree felling and all construction activities of the project. M/s KAI International Pvt Ltd has proposed to set up the sponge iron plant and captive power plant in Kapand Village under Lahunipada Tahasil of Sundergarh district. IDCO Odisha has acquired 135 Acres of land out of which handed over 117 Acres of land for the said project. The land is a physical forest of hundred years old and in last 10 years 42,000 trees were planted through Kapanda Van Sarakshyan Samiti (VSS) .
The petition filed by local villagers and Environmental Activist Prafulla Samantara has alleged that more than 10,000 trees have already been felled in the project site without environment clearance. The project site is adjoining the Kukia Reserve Forest and wild life will be severely affected.
The Re-Constituted Expert Appraisal Committee (REAC) held on 25th-26th February, 2021 has observed and rejected the proposal on different grounds such as “(i) Form I is not complete as most the details sought in the Form I are not provided. (ii) Pre-feasibility report found to be incomplete as the details relating to environment settings for the proposed site has not been furnished. (iii) As per the records submitted, no alternate site details were furnished whereas PP during presentation referred three alternative sites for the proposed unit without any review by established methods of site selection. (iv)There are lots of trees in the proposed site that would be cut as observed from KML file and site photographs submitted during the presentation. (v) Management of phenolic water and tar recovered from PGP has not been described. (vi) Kukia RF is only 400 m from plant. (vii) 10 Nos. of Induction Furnaces (IF) are proposed (4×10 and 6 x 15T capacities) to produce 0.43 MTPA steel which are having high pollution potential PP should explore feasibility of installation of higher configuration of Induction Furnace.”
Sankar Prasad Pani Advocate for the petitioners stated that when the Ministry of Environment and Forest have not granted site clearance and not issued Terms of Reference, the project proponent on what basis have felled the trees and cleared the ground for setting up its industry is a big question mark. As such the role DFO Rourkela is also questioned by the petitioners and how the DFO has not taken any action while the tree felling continued for more than 20days till the court order to stop the same.
Being satisfied with the materials on record the Kolkata Bench of National Green Tribunal has passed an interim “we direct that no construction and felling of trees shall be made at the site in question by Respondent No.9, M/s KAI International Private Ltd. including boundary wall etc. till all necessary clearances are granted by the MoEF & CC and other authorities, till further order”
The case has been fixed to 3rd December 2021.
