Kendrapada: Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) served a showcause notice on the managing director of Visa Coke Limited at Kalinganagar Industrial Complex, on Thursday for allegedly causing air and water pollution in nearby villages.OSPCB member secretary Manoj V Nair wrote to Visa’s Manoj Kumar, stating that consent to operate was granted to the plant at Jakhapura in Jajpur up to March 31, 2029, for production of LAM coke of 4,00,000 tonnes per annum.However, the plant allegedly violated all air and water pollution control norms, prompting OSPCB to issue the showcause notice under sections 25 and 26 of The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and Section 21 of The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
The letter asked as to why the consent given to the plant to operate up to March 31, 2029, not be revoked. Earlier, the OSPCB, in a letter dated March 9, 2026, directed the plant to build a proper boundary to prevent leak of effluents towards nearby villages.“The apathy over pollution has turned lives of 20,000 villagers hellish,” said Pratap Jena, general secretary of Kalinganagar Shramik Sangh.The plant does not have a primary effluent treatment plant, which is a prerequisite for an industry of this nature. The absence of a primary ETP forms a gross and continuing violation of environment norms. “The plant is illegally discharging untreated industrial effluent into surrounding agricultural land and polluted creek, causing environmental degradation, contamination of soil and water bodies, and posing serious risks to public health,” added Jena.Despite repeated efforts, Manoj Kumar, director of Visa Coke Plant and other officials of the plant could not be contacted.
