Adjudicating over a petition concerning pollution of the Salunki river due to dumping of garbage and release of drain water in Phulbani, Chairman, Permanent Lok Adalat, Santosh Kumar Nayak directed the district administration and EO, Phulbani Municipality to stop releasing toilet and drain water to the river.

The PLA took special note of the grave issue as the pollution of the river has triggered several health issues of the people living nearby the river.

Ashok Kumar Parida and 18 others of the Milita Nagarika Mancha in their petition had complained that municipality garbage, household waste and drain water released into the river create chemical reactions with people using the water for drinking purpose directly getting affected. Dumping of solid waste materials like plastic, aluminum etc is very dangerous and affects the water bodies a lot. Sewage is a part of waste water that contains human excreta and urine which are released into the river Salunki without treatment, posing a grave threat to both human health and environment.

The right to clean water comes under the ambit of the right to life. In Narmada Bachao Andolan Vrs Union of India, the Supreme Court held that right to clean water is a fundamental right under Article 21of the Constitution. As such, the State is duty bound to prevent the water from getting polluted. So prevention of water of Salunki from pollution is the highest need of the hour. As such, the Phulbani town must have a sewage treatment plant to clean up the sewage, said the petitioners.