Commuters complain of pollution by Vijayawada Thermal Power Station

Vijayawada: The Dr Narla Tata Rao Thermal Power Plant, popularly known as Vijayawada Thermal Power Station (VTPS), at Ibrahimpatnam, meets a major portion of the demand of the state. However, pollution caused by the fly ash, the main effluent of thermla power stations, is a major concern to the locals.

There are totally 7 plants, of which 6 are 210 MW plants, one has a capacity of 500MW and the other of 800 MW, which is under constructoin. Though the VTPS authorities set up a 1,000 acre pond to dump the fly ash, people commuting through NH-65 suffer a lot due to the fly ash  filling the air. Sometimes, it  is even resulting in fatal accidents as the vision of the motorists is getting blurred.

The power station officials allow lifting of fly ash free of cost but the transporters overload their vehicles and dump it beside the road, during vehicle checking.
“We come to Vijayawada frequently on business needs and dry  fly ash is a regular problem here,” said M. Manikyarao. Fly ash is used to make  bricks and to boost the strength of roads.

The power station authorities allow transportation of fly ash free of cost as it would reduce the contamination nearby the station premises. Every day, around 15,000 tonne of fly ash from VTPS ash pond is transported to other areas through 500 private lorries. The brick kilns use fly ash in bricks to reduce the cost of production while the road contractors do so to increase the strength of roads.

During vehicle checking, the lorries carrying fly ash dump the exces load beside the road. “They dump the wet ash which later dries up and rises into the air causing a lot of pollution. In summer, we face heavy problem due to the swirling ash, when the weather is dry and there is wind,” said Eswara Rao, a resident of Ibrahimpatnam.

“As the station authorities are taking precautionary measures,  pollution has reduced when compared to that before 5 years,”  he added. The thermal power plant has an impact on land, soil and air. The station also emits a large quantity of mercury, which is harmful to health. The thermal power station should develop a greenbelt across the ash pond. These measures have already been suggested by many environment engineers to reduce the pollution.

“We are taking all the precautions to control the pollution. The ash pond is spread in 1,000 acres.  We are allowing lifting of fly ash free of cost. Our staff regularly checks the lorries and they are not allowed to move without covering the top of the vehicle with a tarpaulin,”  said Padma Sujata, chief engineer,  VTPS, to DC.  The management reported that they had already planted 1, 7000 plants, to reduce the pollution. She promised that she would be checking the overloaded Lorries, to curb the further damage and see the road would become environment-friendly.