Akankshya Mahapatra 
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday issued notices to Jajpur Collector and Divisional Forest Officer (Cuttack) on a petition seeking intervention against constructions planned under the Vyasa Sarovar Project. The NGT’s East Zone Bench issued notices on a petition filed by Dilip Kumar Samantaray, a green activist alleging that the constructions are being undertaken on forest land without the requisite environmental clearance.
“Considering the nature of the allegations made in the Original Application, we direct the respondents to the notices respectively, to file their personal affidavits within two weeks”, the bench of B.Amit Sthalekar (Judicial Member) and Saibal Dasgupta (Expert Member) said while posting the matter to August 18. Petitioner counsel Sankar Prasad Pani appeared in virtual mode and pointed out that of the total 105.45 acre project area under Vyasanagar Municipality, 33.97 acre of forest land and more than 37 acre of wetlands are in violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and Wetlands (Conservation Management) Rules, 2017.
