Adhunik Power & Natural Resources Limited (APNRL) has inaugurated its first unit of 2 x270 MW coal fired thermal power plant on 16th October 2012 at Padampur village of Saraikela-Kharsawan district of Jharkhand, India. The power plant was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Jharkhand Shri Arjun Munda along with other dignitaries of state government [1]. The first unit of the project (land requirement 119 hectare and investment Rs 1226.118 crore) has got environmental clearance from the Union Government in 2009 [2]. Preparation for another 270MW unit is going on and are expected to be completed soon (land requirement 800.62 acres and Rs 5926.27 crore) . The second unit has also got Environment clearance in 2011 [3].
According to the Times of India, APNRL has already signed Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Jharkhand State Electricity Board, Power Trading Corporation, Tata Power Trading Company, and West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company aggregating around 435 MW. The Company has been provided long term transmission open access and has executed Bulk Power Transmission Agreement with Power Grid for 450 MW.
The coal will come from the captive mines at Ganeshpur non-coking coal block in the Latehar District of Jharkhand.
Since its inception the project has become a major polluter of the region.
Residents of 23 villages in Seraikela-Kharsawan suffer from the toxic fly ash the plant generates [5]. The leakage in its ash pond that was apparently the main cause behind discharge of fly ash into the rivulet that leads to Subernarekha river. The residents are complaining to the government officials at different levels to force the plant to stick to the government’s pollution guidelines [4].
Local residents claim that the fly ash from the power plant flows through the rivulet that runs through as many as 23 villages dotting. This polluted water ultimately goes to the river Subernarekha. Along its flow of polluted water it is harming farmland, flora and fauna.
According to the company, they have set up an ash pond to capture “bottom ash” and installed an electrostatic precipitator, back filter and dry-spraying systems to trap air particles [5].
From the objection of local people, Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) has issued a show cause notice to the plant on January 24, 2014.
After the protest from the villagers and the notice from the pollution control board, the unit has taken preliminary measures to check the emission of fly ash into a rivulet. The factory has also raised the level of its boundary wall to check the overflowing of waste after the protest and JSPCB’s show cause notice [4].
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