Alleged illegal groundwater extraction by JSW Utkal Steel under NGT scanner

The Eastern Zone Bench of the National Green Tribunal, Kolkata has issued notice to JSW Utkal Steel Limited in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district on the alleged illegal groundwater extraction by the steel company.

NGT Eastern Zone Bench comprising Mr. Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi (Judicial Member) and Mr. Ishwar Singh (Expert Member), after hearing a petition filed in this regard, observed that “the matter raises substantial environmental questions under the provisions of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010”.

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The Bench, posting the matter for further hearing on 26 May next, issued notice to the steelmaker and directed it to file their responses within one month.

The petition filed by environmental activist Dillip Kumar Samantaray raised serious concerns over violations of environmental norms by the company during the establishment of its Greenfield Integrated Steel Plant project near Paradip.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had granted Environmental Clearance (EC) to the project with a specific and mandatory condition that no groundwater shall be abstracted. The required water as per the ministry direction must be sourced from the Mahanadi river near Jobra Barrage. However, the petition stated that the company has violated this crucial condition by digging hundreds of borewells across its project area spanning over 4,000 acres.

The petition further relied on information obtained through RTI from the Central Ground Water Board, which indicates that only two No Objection Certificates (NOCs) were granted for a limited number of tube wells. Despite this, large-scale groundwater extraction is alleged to be ongoing, raising concerns about depletion of groundwater resources and ecological damage in the region.

Besides allegations leveled against the steelmaker also included non-compliance with mandatory safeguards such as installation of tamper-proof digital water flow meters and construction of observation wells (piezometers) for groundwater monitoring. The petition also raised questions on the legality of the NOCs granted without due consideration of the EC conditions.

Representing the petitioner, Advocate Akhand submitted that indiscriminate groundwater extraction poses a serious threat to the environment and local communities, and sought strict regulatory and punitive action against the company as well as accountability of concerned authorities.