Pollution Board Shuts Two Dvc Units

The Central Pollution Control Board has ordered the immediate shutdown of two units of the Damodar Valley Corporation's (DVC's) Bokaro power plant for failing to implement anti-pollution measures.

The board issued the direction under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and said the action was taken after all previous warnings failed.

This is the second time a thermal power plant has been asked to shut down units for not complying with pollution norms. A year ago, a unit of the Ahmedabad Electricity Company was shut down until it complied with statutory pollution norms.

The plants are units 3 and 4 of DVC's four 50 mw units at Bokaro. Suspension of operations will hit DVC's supplies to industrial consumers in the area, including the Bokaro steel complex.

 

The two DVC units will remain shut till electrostatic precipitators are installed in all four units in place of the present multi-cyclone devices that, the Central Pollution Control Board says, are not very efficient. This has to be done at the earliest, the deadline being September 1999.

DVC has been ordered to submit an affidavit within a month undertaking to take pollution control measures as per the Central Pollution Control Board's directives which are:

l Install additional electrostatic precipitators at Bokaro thermal power station ` B' by February 1999

l Construct new ash ponds both at Bokaro `A' and the adjoining Bokaro `B' thermal power station on 50 acres of land within three months

l Repair the breach in one of the ash ponds immediately

l Install opacity meters that monitor emissions continuously in all units

l Provide soil and vegetal cover to all the abandoned ash ponds.

DVC has been further directed to prepare an action plan for utilising ash generated by the Bokaro thermal power stations for manufacturing bricks, and for such other useful purposes as prescribed by the board.

The issue of pollution caused by DVC plants at Bokaro came up for a high-level discussion at a meeting called by the Central Pollution Control Board chief Dilip Biswas.

DVC chairman A K Mishra pleaded his case at length but was overruled by the board.