The efforts of the officials of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to defuse the crisis arising out of the closure notice slapped by the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) on four units of the company's 3000 MW plant at Kaniha failed to yield any result.
Though the NTPC authorities assured to fully restore one of the damaged ash dykes of the plant by August 15, the state pollution board has remained steadfast on its closure order.
"We want that the NTPC authorities repair the ash dyke fully and only then, we can allow their units to run. If the 3000 MW NTPC plant is allowed to run at full capacity, the ash generated by it can be disposed only up to October this year as only the lagoon-I of Stage-II of the plant is available for ash disposal”, said Siddhant Das, member secretary, SPCB told newspersons here.
It may be noted that the plant running at full capacity generates about 20,000 tonnes of ash per day. Presently, three 500 MW units of the power station have been closed following the SPCB order while one unit has been shut down for annual maintenance.
"NTPC has earlier slipped on many commitments and we cannot bank fully on its assurance this time. We have asked the plant authorities to come out with an effective ash management plan and till then, the closure order would stand”, said Debi Prasad Mishra, minister (forest & environment).
The SPCB on June 28 had slapped a closure direction on four units (4x500) of the power plant. The closure direction served on NTPC's Kaniha followed the sliding of one of ash dykes of the company's ash pond on June 2.
After the subsidence and breach of lagoon-II of Stage-I of NTPC Kaniha over a stretch of 200 metres, a thorough inspection was carried out by the officials of SPCB.
The senior officials of NTPC today made a presentation to the state government on restoration of Lagoon-II of Stage-I of the plant and also on the company's 'Action Plan'.
The NTPC authorities expect the Lagoon-II of Stage-I to be restored and ready for use by the middle of August and in that event, space will be created for disposal of ash for three months if all the six units are operational.
