 "Industries owe water cess worth Rs 1,519 cr to Odisha")
National Aluminium Company (Nalco), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Tata Refractory Ltd (TRL), Paradeep Phosphates Ltd (PPL), Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL), Sterlite Energy Ltd and Ballarpur Industries Ltd are among the industries saddled with arrears, according to a written reply provided by chief minister Naveen Patnaik who also handles the water resources portfolio.
Sixteen (16) cases are sub-judice of which 14 cases have been tagged by the Odisha High Court for full bench hearing. Their cases will be heard after formation of full bench.
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The 14 industrial establishments whose cases are to be decided include Tata Steel (Joda mines), Ballarpur Industries Ltd (BILT)-Choudwar, BILT-Jeypore, TRL, SAIL-Rourkela, Odisha Synthetics Ltd, South-Eastern Railway-Jharsuguda, Sakthi Sugar, Gannon Dunkerley & Company, Jayashree Chemicals, Nalco-Damanjodi, Nalco-Angul, JK Corporation and Aska Cooperative.
SAIL tops the defaulters' list with an arrear of Rs 1,121.30 crore.
The remaining two cases are those of PPL and Emami Paper Mills Ltd-Balasore. While PPL has filed a counter affidavit, Emami Power Mills has filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the interim order of the High Court.
To recover water dues from all the errant players, the state government has fixed 2% compounded interest per month and has rapped them to expedite water tax payment by issuing demand notice.
This apart, Enforcement Squad has been constituted under the chairmanship of the Chief Engineer to recover the dues from the industries.
Other industries facing water cess arrears are Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd-NINL (Rs 8.76 crore), Paradeep Port Trust-PPT (Rs 13.34 crore), Orient Paper Mills-Brajrajnagar (Rs 32.86 crore), Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd- Brajrajnagar (Rs 29.18 crore) and Shyam DRI Power Ltd (Rs 15.61 crore) to name a few.