Nagpur: In another major breach of a fly-ash pond, the Waregaon ash bund of Khaparkheda Thermal Power Station overflowed on Wednesday, flooding at least 15 farmlands with toxic ash slurry.
According to reports, the breach took place around 8 am but the ash water started gushing into the fields later in the day. “The ash pond was full to its brim and following heavy rains, the wall of the bund collapsed. After a few hours, ash slurry started overflowing and flooded around 15 agricultural fields, damaging all crops,” said Kamlakar Bangre, Sarpanch of Waregaon village.
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Villagers alleged that their complaints made to officials of Mahagenco, the state-run power company, fell on deaf ears. “In summers, the ash dust from the pond leads to severe air pollution, in monsoon the slurry overflows. We have been demanding closure of this bund since a long time,” they said.
Members of NGO Centre for Sustainable Development (CFSD) carried out a spot visit and found that some farms were totally submerged in ash slurry. “Initially, the locals thought that a pipeline had leaked. It was only in late evening that they realized that the ash bund breached, and the damage was so massive,” said the organisation’s founder Leena Buddhe.
Buddhe has been raising the issue of ash bund breaches during the environment surveillance committee meetings of Koradi and Khaparkheda power plants.
This is not the first time that the region’s farmers have faced losses due to a breach in an ash pond. During July last year, the Khasala fly ash bund of Koradi Thermal Power Station had breached, flooding three villages with toxic fly-ash slurry.
Along with farmers having agricultural land in the vicinity of the power plant, citizens also continue to reel under the constant threat of toxic pollution due to fly ash. In the last monsoon, the ash bund collapse had resulted in overflowing of the bund and fly-ash-water repeatedly polluting Kanhan river. This incident had a cascading effect on the water supply system of Nagpur city.
After getting information about the incident, District Collector Dr Vipin Itankar inspected the spot and instructed officials to conduct panchnama. Officials of Khaperkheda Thermal Power Plant swung into action and managed to stop the flow of slurry water further into the nearby areas.
