The Brahmani river here is facing pollution threat.
Release of ash water and other wastes from the 460-mw Talcher Thermal Power Station (TTPS) here into the Brahmani has ended up severely polluting the river. The Odisha State Pollution Control Board and the State Government have allegedly remained a mute spectator to this violation of pollution control norms.
There are three or more ways through which waste water from the plant and its colony is being released into the rivulet Nandira which merges in the Brahmani.
A thick layer of oil or other polluting chemicals on the surface of the river water has become a common sight.
This is the situation when the authorities of the TTPS plant, owned by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited, claim to have achieved record success in power generation. For people of nearby 10 villages, including Jagannathpur, the Brahmani is their lifeline as they depend upon the river for day-to-day needs.
“Release of waste water and effluents into the river has been unabated. Our pleas to the government authorities have only fallen on deaf ears,” said a villager of Jagannathpur, Prakash Dhar. “Our lives have become hell as we were already suffering from heavy coal dust pollution from the nearby conveyer belt of the plant that carries coal from the colliery to the plant,” he added.
Incidentally, the Regional Officer of the Odisha State Pollution Control Board who inspected the plant some days back has detected water release from three points including the sewage plant of TTPS into the Brahmani through a rivulet Nandira.
“I have collected samples and sent them to test to ascertain whether these carry ash or any other toxic chemicals. There have been a lot of allegation of toxic and ash release from the plant into the river,” said Sahu.
The General Manager of TTPS did not respond to queries.