Public nod to plant

PARADIP: The proposed ammonium nitrate manufacturing complex of Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd (DFPCL) has received green signal from villagers during a public hearing at Bagadia on Friday.

The villagers of Bagadia, representatives of different organisations, PRI members and trade union leaders, who participated in the public hearing organised by Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB), sought employment opportunities for locals and adequate pollution control measures. Paradip Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Biswajit Biswal chaired the meeting.Sources said the company has proposed to set up a complex to manufacture Technical Ammonium Nitrate of 1,000 MTPD and Ammonia of 380 MTPD for its fertiliser plant.

Locals alleged that thousands of people under Kujang tehsil and its adjoining areas are getting suffocated due to release of ammonia gas by the fertiliser plant. They asked the DFPCL authorities to take pollution control measures and threatened to resort to strike, if the company violates environmental guidelines.
OSPCB Regional Officer Mukesh Mahalinga said the public opinion on the proposed plant obtained during the hearing will be sent to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for environmental clearance to the project.Among others, environmentalist Ayaskant Ray, trade union leader Chinmay Das and village head Balkrushna Swain were present.