NGT’s Green Signal For Cuttack Bali Jatra

Bhubaneswar: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday gave green signal to the Cuttack district administration for holding of the ten-day Bali Jatra on the riverbed of Mahanadi.

The NGT issued the clearance after going through the review petition filed by the state government and Cuttack district administration.

“The NGT after considering our review petition has given us the go ahead. So we will go ahead with the allotment of plots for erection of stalls and Bali Jatra will be conducted as usual like previous years,” said Cuttack Collector Nirmal Chandra Mishra.

A petition was filed by environmentalist Biswajit Mohanty with the NGT alleging that holding of the trade fair on the river bed and dumping of construction debris and solid waste in the river bed was causing shrinking of Mahanadi apart from environmental degradation.

NGT had put curbs on the holding of the trade fair and had issued a show cause notice to the state government and the Cuttack district administration after hearing the petition.