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Cuttack: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday allowed the district administration to go ahead with its plans to organise the historic Balijatra in Mahanadi riverbed.
Hearing a review petition, the Green panel directed the district administration to maintain cleanliness of the riverbed after the festival.
“In the review petition we had mentioned that the area on which the festival has been proposed, is not a river bed and its an alluvial area. There is a huge land mass and it is too old,” said Nirmal Chandra Mishra, Collector, Cuttack.
“We will ensure smooth functioning of the festival,” he stated.
Soon after the NGT verdict, the district administration started allotting sites to vendors who had applied for their stalls in the festival.
Acting on a petition by environmentalist Biswajit Mohanty, the NGT on November 2 had ordered the State government to stop allocating stalls on the riverbed for the 10-day-long Balijatra festival starting from November 14.