BHUBANESWAR: Unfazed by a ban order, a number of road side hotels and dhabas in five districts—Dhenkanal, Sambalpur, Angul, Jharsuguda and Sundargarh—continue to use coal as the main source of fuel. It is evident from a letter of state home department’s special secretary Lalit Das , who asked the Odisha police to conduct massive crackdown on such eateries. TOI is in possession of the letter sent by Das to DGP and all SPs in districts on March 10. The state forest and environment department in a gazette notification on October 27 last year banned the use of raw coal in hotels in those five districts, having large deposits of the combustible black stone.The home department intervened after the state pollution control board drew their attention about violation of the gazette notification. “We requested the district collectors and SPs to check the unrestricted use of raw coal in the roadside dhabas in the five districts in view of air pollution. The restriction is in force for the five districts only as coal is abundantly available and used by eateries, causing air pollution,” said a senior scientist of state pollution control board Debashis Ray . Officials said availability of coal dissuades dhaba operators from shifting to cooking gas.Recently, a committee of the state Assembly toured the five districts to check the enforcement of the ban on coal-fired fuel. “The committee gave an adverse report to us. The committee found huge smog in the air and interacted with the employees of the dhabas. The employees said they often fell sick due to burning of the coal,” said another officer of the state pollution control board. The committee in its report said coal combustion can affect lung tissue, exacerbate asthma and make people more susceptible to chronic respiratory diseases, the report said. Particulate matter and fly ash generated from the coal burning can cause chronic bronchitis, aggravated asthma, and premature death, as well as haze obstructing visibility, the report added.