MoES may alter norms for carrying non-washed coal

Washing of coal within the state, which snowballed into a major issue with the Orissa government complaining about bearing the burden of pollution, may deepen further as the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) is planning to reduce the distance of carrying the coal having more than 34 per cent ash content to the power plant from 1000 km to 500 km from the pit-head.

MoEF’s earlier notification dated September 19, 1997 had stipulated that power plants which are more than a thousand kilometers away from the pit-head are required use coal having less than 34 per cent ash content.

The Centre is mulling to reduce this distance from 1000 km to 500 km and to have coal washeries within 200-300 km of the pit-head so as to reduce the cost of transportation towards carrying ashes and minimise the fly ash pollution threat in the periphery of the plant site, said Tishyarakshit Chatterjee, Secretary, MoEF.

A number of new thermal plants are lined up for implementation by Independent Power Producers (IPPs) which will push the aggregate power generation in the state to about 45000 MW in the next 8-9 years. These plants are expected to generate 100 million tonnes of fly ash per annum (mtpa). Hence, such plans of MoEF on the reduction of distance for carrying the non-washed coal will compel the IPPs to set up washeries that will further precipitate the pollution problems in the state.

As coal in the state has high ash content, the state government has already suggested that the MoEF should suitably compensate the state for the environmental burden it has to bear on behalf of other states, said Sidhant Das, Member Secretary, Orissa State Pollution Control Board.