Omfed plant ignores OSPCB directive on waste water discharge

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Sep 12:

The Odisha Milk Federation (OMFED) plant continues to pump out untreated waste water even after Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB)issued it a show cause notice.

OSPCB had issued a show-cause notice to the Omfed plant at Chandrasekharpur area in the capital for causing water pollution in February this year.  Omfed chairmain-cum-managing director (CMD) BP Sethi had assured the board at the time that they will comply with the pollution norms within one and half years.

OSPCB regional director Hadibandhu Panigrahi, however, has said that OMFED has not taken any steps in treating its waste water. No tender has been issued for new effluent treatment plant (ETP) plant nor any advisors appointed. A show cause notice has been issued to OMFED and strict action will be taken against them if they don’t comply with the notice.

The plant produces 2.5 lakh litre of milk and generates 400 kilo litre of waste water a day.  The pollution board had found contents of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in the waste water. For industrial waste water, the permissible limit of BOD is 30 ml a litre of water. But BOD was found to be three times higher in the Omfed-discharged waste water.

When Omfed CMD B P Sethi was questioned on the issue, he refused to answer and said he will discuss the issue with his officials.