The Orissa High Court asked the State government to submit a comprehensive report identifying the workers in any of the Coal Fired Thermal Power Plants (CFTPPs) suffering from any of the health hazards.
A case was registered in the Orissa HC pursuant to the January 31, 2014 Judgment of the Supreme Court of India that had heard a petition regarding the health hazards faced by the workers in CFTPPs operating in different States in the country.
According to a petition in the Orissa HC, although a plethora of legislation including the labour welfare laws were in place, there was a poor implementation of the measures contained therein. It was pointed out that several of the workers in the CFTPPs were suffering from lung function abnormalities, skin diseases, asthma and pulmonary function test abnormalities.
The Supreme Court got a report prepared by the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) and the Apex Court directed to make the report available to different High Courts for their perusal.
In December 10, 2014, the Orissa HC had proposed a comprehensive scrutiny to be undertaken and requested the State to assist in the process of identifying and cataloguing the issues on a priority basis. However, the petition was listed only recently.
There are sixty-one industries having CFTPPs in Odisha. The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice Chittaranjan Dash directed the Odisha government to file a comprehensive affidavit regarding the steps which it proposed to take in the first instance.
The State should undertake a survey of all the CFTPPs in the State of Orissa to address the issues highlighted in the report of the NIOH, identify workers suffering from any of the health hazards and explore the possibility of setting up an independent mechanism which can adjudicate the claims of such workers for appropriate reliefs in accordance with law.
According to the judgment, the comprehensive affidavit with the proposals of the State Government should be filed within a period of six weeks and, in any event, not later than November 1, 2022.
