new thermal plants

August 7, 2008

Bathinda residents do not take kindly to new thermal plants
S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, August 6
While residents of the town have ben facing problem of high-level of air pollution due to soot emission from Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP), the government is going ahead with setting up two more mega thermal power plants around here.

Living in high-level of pollution for 34 years, residents of the town find no reason to rejoice at the announcement of Sukhbir Singh Badal, Shiromani Akali Dal chief(SAD), Bathinda would be made a power generation hub.

The new thermal power stations, coming up at Talwandi Sabo and Gidderbaha, will be of 2,000 MW capacity each, more than double that of Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant (GHTP) at Lehra Mohabbat. Sukhbir Singh, however, claimed the new thermal plants would be pollution free. A thermal power station is already functional at Lehra Mohabbat, near here.

"As if one thermal station in the town was not enough to cause respiratory problems for the residents, the SAD government has finalised two more of such plants for the area", said Avtar Singh, a trader.

Residents of the town say a clear blue sky here has been a rare phenomenon ever since the GNDTP came up.

The plant, generating 440 MW of power , had been functional without any pollution-control device for a long time. Recently, two of the four-generation units have been provided such mechanism for Rs 192 crore. The two other units are waiting to be modernised to cut emission levels.

The pollution level of the Lehra Mohabbat plant, which has the capacity to generate 920 MW of power , will be known only when its generation reaches the optimum level. One of its 250 MW units will be commissioned by October-end.

The residents, particularly living in the localities around the plant, including, Vishal Nagar, Panchvati Nagar, Green Avenue, Tagore Nagar and New Shakti Nagar, have formed a joint action committee to pressure the government to take steps to save people from fly ash puffed out by the plant chimneys. Thick layer of ash settles on clothes and other household articles in these areas when the plant generates power.

The GNDTP consumes more than 6,000 tonnes of coal every day while the three units of the GHTP burn 9,000 tonnes of coal daily. The coal consumption of the GHTP will shoot up to 12,000 tonnes daily in October when the fourth unit goes on stream.

On a recent visit to the thermal plant, union minister of state for power Jairam Ramesh said although the new thermal power stations would have inbuilt mechanism to control pollution, it could't altogether be prevented when high quantity of coal is burnt.

Not only the GNDTP, but the town also has a big unit of the National Fertilisers that too was contributing to pollution. A Rs 18,000 crore refinery is also coming up near here.

Ironically, the Pollution Control Board set up here was insensitive to the issue of pollution. Sometimes ash is dumped in the open and near rail tracks around the town