50% thermal plants do not meet fly ash use norms, says environment group

Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh lead in fly ash generation; most plants blamed for flouting norms are owned by governments

Half the coal-fired power plants in India flout norms asking them to use polluting fly ash they generate, said the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in a report. Some plants don’t even utilise 30-40 per cent of the fly ash.

A notification by the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) in 1999 laid down the targets for utilisation of fly ash.

"In the last decade, coal consumption and fly ash generation from coal power plants has jumped up by almost 80 per cent. On an average, 35 per cent of fly ash remain unutilised in this decade, leading to its piling up in ash ponds. As per the report, between 2010 and 2020, several major ash dyke breach incidents and cases of unsafe disposal of ash have been reported from many regions," said the report by the independent environment group.

Annual fly ash generation from Indian coal power plants rose to 217 million tonnes in 2018–19 from 123 million tonnes in 2009–10. The legacy fly ash in India stood at 1.6 billion tonne as on March 2019, said CSE.

From 2012–13 to 2016–17, the quantity of fly ash utilized has remained stagnant at around 100 million tonnes; however, during the same period, annual generation has been above the 150 million tonne mark, which indicates a huge pile up.

Only in the last two years (i.e., 2017–18 and 2018-19) has there been an additional 30 million tonnes increase in utilization each year, said the study.

Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh lead in fly ash generation, followed by West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya

Pradesh and Odisha.

Most plants with poor ash utilisation rates were run by the central or state governments. A majority belonged to NTPC Limited, Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company Limited (CSPGCL), Madhya Pradesh Power Generation Company Limited (MPPGCL) and MahaGENCO (in Maharashtra).

NTPC units blamed for poor ash utilisation are Barauni, Barh, Kahalgaon, Muzaffarpur, Bongaigaon among others. Reliance Power's Sasan ultra mega power plant in Madhya Pradesh also rates low in ash utilisation.