Indo Asian News Service
Bhubaneswar, Feb 23: Coal-rich Orissa may have drawn huge investments in the electricity sector to emerge as a powerhouse of India but the state has been unsuccessful in utilising the fly-ash produced in thermal power plants, leading to massive air and water pollution.
The state produces 24.52 million tonne (MT) of fly-ash from nine coal-fired power plants with an installed capacity of 8,487 mega watt (MW) and the quantity of fly-ash will reach 92.5 million tonne if the proposed 31 power plants become operational in the coming years, energy minister Pranab Prakash Das has told the Assembly.
Independent power producers (IPPs) have invested Rs32,991 crore on proposed coal-fired projects after entering into memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with the state government, but when it comes to fly ash management, thermal power companies have failed to utilise it.
The state has entered into MoUs with 28 power companies.
“As per information furnished by the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), net accumulation of fly-ash during 2005-06 to 2008-09 was 36.99 MT which increased by another 52.21 MT during 2009-10 to 2013-14, resulting in an accumulation of 89.2 MT fly-ash,” the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in a report.
“Though utilisation of fly-ash has increased from 43.93 per cent to 61 per cent during 2009-10 to 2013-14, the average annual accumulation of fly-ash remained unchanged (ranging between 9.44 MT to 10.78 MT),” said the report.
The government auditor said most of the power plants have failed to utilise 100 per cent fly-ash as per guidelines issued by the Centre.
Most of the power plants are situated in critically polluted areas in Angul-Talcher and Ib Valley-Jharsuguda – both among the 43 critically polluted areas in the country.
SPCB scientist DK Behera told IANS that the state government has made mandatory the use of fly-ash bricks in government buildings located within a radius of 100 km of fly-ash generating units.
While fly-ash was being used for brick-making and road construction, the government has decided to engage the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bhubaneswar and the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, for a research report on utilisation of fly-ash in other sectors.