NGT stalls Odisha govt's Bali Jatra riverfront project in Cuttack

The National Green Tribunal has imposed restrictions on the Odisha government's ambitious Bali Jatra project, for which the Cuttack district administration had reclaimed an area of around 426 acres of the Mahanadi riverbed, environmentalists said on Saturday.

As part of the Bali Jatra riverfront or the Barfi project, the district administration had reclaimed the floodplain zone of the river near Jobra barrage in Cuttack city by filling sand and garbage, they claimed.

According to them, the move allegedly "reduced the water retaining capacity of the barrage and posed a threat of inundation to at least 38 nearby villages".

A five-member special bench, headed by chairperson Justice A K Goel, said it was difficult to accept the state government's plan for construction on the reclaimed land, which has been clearly established to be part of the floodplain zone.

"There's the clear anticipated danger of flooding. We're guided by precautionary principle under Section 20 of the NGT Act," the