A seven-member National Green Tribunal (NGT) team visited the Mahanadi riverbed at Hadiapatha and the Baliyatra field in Cuttack on Wednesday.
The team was there to review Odisha government’s reclamation of 424 acres in Mahanadi riverbed under the proposed Baliyatra Riverfront Improvement (BARFI) project and expansion of SCB Medical College and Hospital after it was challenged at the NGT as ‘Illegal’.
The NGT team was accompanied by District Collector Bhabani Shankar Chayani, CMC Commissioner Nikhil Pawan Kalyan and senior officials of the water resource department.
They will submit the report at the NGT after verification and review at the ground level.
The NGT team visited the site after environmentalists knocked on the doors of the green court raising serious concerns over the 'illegal' land reclaiming from the river. They alleged that the works on the riverbed for projects like BARFI and SCB expansion are violating the directives of the green tribunal.
The petitioner, Pradeep Patnaik, told reporters, “We have only one demand and that is the free flow of Mahanadi water. We want the State government to enforce the Orissa High Court order.”
“The Orissa HC had earlier ordered to make efforts to strengthen and widen the ring road and develop the low level lands in Cuttack. However, the government has failed to comply with the order, that is why we have filed a petition at the NGT,” Patnaik said.
Cuttack Collector Bhabani Shankar Chayani said, “The NGT officials are reviewing the land reclamation process. We have complied with the High Court order by reclaiming only the low lying land in the riverbed. We will decide our next course of action after a ruling by the NGT comes in this matter.”
The state government has planned to transform the state-run SCB Medical College and Hospital into an “AIIMS Plus” institute with an expenditure of Rs 1000 crore. The government is reclaiming the river bed to construct the world class health institute on whopping 175 acres land on the riverbed. The government has aimed at completing the project by 2024.
Similarly, the government has undertaken the BARFI project for beautification of Mahanadi riverfront. The project is taken up to bring transformation of the 420 acres land being reclaimed on Mahanadi river bank.