BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government’s new standard operating procedure (SOP) to fill up low-lying areas with fly ash for land reclamation has put the onus on the generator - industries or thermal power plants (TPPs) - for violation of the compliance process.
As per the SOP issued by the Odisha State Pollution Control Board, the onus of compliance with all statutory norms and guidelines for fly ash disposal will lie with the generator and the land owner will not be responsible for any lapses.
OSPCB member secretary Uma Nanduri told this paper that the new SOP will help set the criteria for site selection, procedure for filling low-lying areas and monitoring safe and secure utilisation of the fly ash generated by industries, especially the TPPs.
“Under the SOP we have also shifted the onus of disposing fly ash to the industries to ensure that the truckers do not dump the waste at random places,” she said. The SOP has been issued in line with the notification of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change that recognises filling of low-lying areas with fly ash as per the norms of the Pollution Control Board.
As per the SOP, private land having minimum 20 acre area with a void volume of 2.5 lakh cubic metre and self-owned industrial premises having boundary wall on all sides irrespective of their size can be considered for fly ash disposal.
Similarly, reclamation of low-lying forest land, irrespective of its size, can also be considered subject to clearance of the same from MoEFCC in accordance with the Forest Conservation Act 1980. Forest diversion will be required for the same.
However, fly ash dumping will not be allowed in sites located in flood plain areas, wetland and agricultural or gochar kisam land. There will also be restriction on dumping in plots having natural or storm water channel.
Such reclamation sites, the SOP says, must be 500 metre away from water bodies like rivers, lakes, reservoirs or natural streams. The sites need to have a minimum distance of 250 metre from schools, educational institutions, human habitation and hospitals as a general condition.
However, low-lying areas in educational institutions and health care facilities having boundary wall on all sides can be considered on the basis of the requests by the competent authority of the land, the circular said.
Nanduri said under no circumstance, excavation will be allowed to create additional void in the identified site. To make fly ash generating industries responsible, an application is being developed by the OSPCB with the help of IIT- Bhubaneswar. “The app will provide a complete digital map for monitoring of the industrial waste, starting from its source to transport and safe disposal. It will be rolled out soon,” she said.
Nanduri added that the district administration, police and RTOs will also be registered on the platform and have access to tracking of the vehicles transporting the industrial waste.