NAGPUR: Citizens affected by air pollution of Mahagenco's power plants have finally decided to take the battle to courts. A Koradi resident, Ratnadeep Rangari, has not only filed a petition with National Green Tribunal (NGT) but also threatened to approach the high court if Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) doesn't take any action.
In his complaint to MPCB against Mahagenco and WCL, Rangari stated that the coal company was supplying high ash content coal and the power utility was using it without any protest. The substandard coal had increased emission from Genco's power plant endangering the health and lives of people living in the vicinity.
The complainant told TOI, "If MPCB doesn't take necessary action within 60 days, I will file a petition in Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court. MPCB had submitted an affidavit in NGT stating that it was helpless in preventing air pollution from thermal power plants. The agency can't abrogate its responsibility like this."
Rangari further said that the Environment Protection Act (EPA) empowers MPCB to crackdown on Genco and WCL. "Section 15 (1) states that in case of frequent contravention of the EPA, the violator will go to jail for five years. In spite of this, not a single official has been punished. MPCB has only issued notices and seized bank guarantees. This has not worked," he pointed out.
MPCB in its defence has claimed that it has no control over quality of coal supplied and its use. It has, however, admitted that amount of suspended particulate matter (SPM) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) is more than permissible limits because of use of coal having ash content more than 34%.
The petitioner had suggested that coal quality could be improved by washing it. MPCB replied that it did not have power to force Genco or WCL to wash coal. It could only ask Genco to use coal whose ash content was within permissible limits. The agency has stressed that the topmost officers of Genco should be made responsible for obtaining washed coal with fly ash content less than 34%.
Meanwhile, union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has been directed by the NGT to get coal used by Mahagenco and supplied by WCL tested by Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR). The report has to be submitted during the next hearing on February 20. MoEF had been pulled up the Tribunal for not cracking down on power and coal companies, which were violating the EPA.
