HC tells PCB to take action against polluting RSP

ROURKELA: Expressing concern that the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) is polluting environment of the steel city here, the Orissa High Court has directed the Pollution Control Board (PCB) to take steps against RSP officers for non-compliance of the environmental norms and mismanagement of the fly ash.

Disposing a writ petition filed by Rourkela Shramik Sangha on the increasing air and water pollution by the RSP, a division bench comprising Justice B P Das and Justice B P Ray recently said the report submitted by the PCB was quite alarming.

However, the bench wondered why the PCB had not taken any effective action against the RSP. "As a statutory body the PCB has totally failed in its duty to achieve the result desired by the general public, who are the worst sufferer of the evils of the polluted air and water," the bench said in the judgement, a copy of which is available with the PTI.

The court has also held the RSP authorities responsible for their inaction regarding utilisation of the fly ash the plant generated and adhering to pollution control measures.

The fly ash has been found disposed off to Guradi Nullah which in its term flows to Brahmani river causing water pollution, the bench said in the judgement delivered on December 17.