The National Green Tribunal (NGT), Delhi Bench, has asked the Odisha State Pollution Board (OSPCB) and the Bhadrak District Magistrate to submit an action-taken report (ATR) on removal of structure on the flood plain of Kapali river at Nalang village near Bhadrak Municipality.

A four- member NGT bench headed by Justice Adars Kumar Goel, issued a direction on September 27 to this effect on the basis of a petition filed by social worker Kalpana Malik ,who has alleged that illegal structures have been raised on the flood plain of the river.

The PSPCB and the Bhadrak Collector have been asked to furnish a report within a month. The NGT has appointed the OPSCB as the nodal agency for coordination and compliance to its order.

Notably, the district has constructed a new building at Nalang where it plans to shift the District and Sessions Court. However, alleging that the construction is illegal, the petitioner had moved the NGT seeking enforcement of its earlier order issued on October 23, 2017 to remove the structures within the buffer and green areas of the river.

The fact reveals that the 14th Finance Commission sanction above Rs 10 crore proposed District and Sessions Judge building within or nearby Municipal area.

Though the administration has made efforts at that relevant period to lease out the required Government land but it was not possible due to scarcity of land within municipal area. However, at last the administration decided to start the construction over gochar land which is situated near the river Kapali in mauza-Nalang.

The local Bar and

some social workers, intellectual persons protested the move to shift the court to a country side area, which is near about 10 km from its old court complex.