New thermal plants to raise the level of pollution in Malwa

With new thermal power plants coming up in the Malwa region, residents of the area are bound to witness the air pollution level further going up as more than 80,000 tonnes of coal would be burnt every day to generate electricity.

While two thermal plants here are functional, four others in the private and public sector have been sanctioned by the state government.

The government had last year formulated the Power Generation Policy to transform Punjab from a power deficit to a power surplus state and to facilitate thermal power plants in the private sector.

Residents of the main town of Bathinda are already crying due to the high level of air pollution being caused by the 440 MW Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP) for the past 36 years. Although engineers of the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) claim that the smoke emission of the plant was within the prescribed limits, people take this claim with a pinch of salt.

Read More:http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110827/bathinda.htm#2

PPP TO OPPOSE DISMANTLING OF BHATINDA THERMAL PLANT

The Punjab People's Party (PPP) will oppose the proposed dismantling of the ash-spewing thermal plant of Bhatinda with tooth and nail as committed by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

The party will launch agitation if needed in this regard. Stating this, PPP chief Manpreet Singh Badal told reporters that his party would also oppose forcible acquisition of land in Gobindpura village by the state government for setting up a thermal power plant there in the private sector. Activists of his party would stage dharna on August 27 at Gobindpura in favour of owners (farmers) of the said land.

Supporting the ongoing agitation of social activist Anna Hazare, Mr Badal said his party was strongly opposing not only corruption but also deadly against drug abuse, unemployment, illiteracy, poverty and inefficiency whereas agitating Hazare was only fighting against corrupt prevailing system which could not be changed through non-violence agitation. It could only be changed with competition.

Read More:http://www.punjabmailonline.com/Punjab_News_news2.aspx#52528

New thermal power plants to start generation from next year

The three new supercritical thermal power plants with the total installed capacity of 3920 MWs coming up in various places in Punjab would begin generating electricity next year with the first unit of the Talwandi Sabo project of the Vedanta likely to be commissioned in November 2012.

GS Chhabra, Director (Generation) of the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) today said the second and third units of the 1980-MW Talwandi Sabo project were slated to be commissioned in February and May 2013, respectively.

A meeting of the coordination committee has been convened on August 25 to discuss the progress in construction of the project.

Chhabra said that the first unit of the 540-MW Goindwal Sahib thermal power project being constructed by the GVK Group would be commissioned in January 2013 and the second in April 2013.

The 1400-MW Rajpura Thermal Plant being built by the L&T Group would be commissioned in 2014 with its first unit going to stream in January and the second in May.

Read More:http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110824/bathinda.htm#1

Ash-spewing Bathinda thermal plant to be shut down

•  A PSPCL functionary says all four units have outlived their life


•  Townsmen had approached the High Court and the Human Rights Commission against the pollution being caused by the plant


•  The plant has been running without electrostatic precipitators that arrest the flow of ash from the chimneys


•  The plant burns 6,500 tonnes of coal everyday, generating a high quantity of ash


•  It has resulted in rise in eye and respiratory ailments

The announcement by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on the shutting down of the ash-spilling 440 MW thermal power station of Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) in the heart of the town here has come as music to the ears of local residents who were suffering because of the high level of pollution caused by the plant.

The thermal plant set up 37 years ago is to be dismantled as it has outlived its utility. Townsmen had approached the High Court and the Human Rights Commission to protect them from the pollution being caused by the plant.

Several social organisations have welcomed the closure announcement but PSPCL engineers are against the move.

The power corporation had already closed one of the units for renovation and this expenditure on repairs will go down the drain when the plant is dismantled. The thermal plant has been running without electrostatic precipitators that arrest the flow of ash from the chimneys, resulting in a thick layer of ash in houses.

The plant everyday burns two train-loads of about 6,500 tonnes of coal, generating a high quantity of ash. The coal is brought from Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

MM Behal, convener of the action committee against the pollution caused by the thermal plant, said the decision was in the right direction and the action committee had approached the High Court for ordering the closure of the plant in case the government had no plans to modernise it.

He said the state government had failed to meet its commitment of taking steps towards controlling air pollution by June last.

Dr Amrit Sethi, an eye specialist, said that eye ailments had increased due to the air pollution caused by the thermal plant.

Read More:http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110823/main7.htm

No new thermal plant before 2012

No new thermal power power plant in the state, including those at Talwandi Sabo, Rajpura and Goindwal Sahib, will be commissioned before November 18, 2012.

The Union Ministry of Power has said this in a reply to a query by Lok Sabha MP Ravneet Singh Bittu. Union Minister of State for Power, KC Venugopal has stated that as per the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the first unit of the 3660 MW thermal plant at Talwandi Sabo will be commissioned on November 18 next year, the second unit on February 8, 2013 and third unit on June 10, 2013.

Similarly, the first unit of the 2270 MW thermal plant at Goindwal Sahib will be commissioned on January 31, 2013 and the second unit on April 30, 2013. The Rajpura thermal power plant of 2700 MW capacity will have its first unit commissioned on January 17, 2014 and the second unit on May 17, 2014.

"These figures translate into the fact that Punjab cannot be a power surplus state. As all these thermal plants are being set up on build-own-operate (BOO) basis, neither the state government nor the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has spent a single penny on these projects," Bittu said.

Read More:http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110819/bathinda.htm#1