SAMBALPUR: BJD’s Sambalpur unit president and former minister Rohit Pujari on Friday questioned the state government’s standard operating procedure (SOP) for fly ash management, alleging gaps in disposal infrastructure and monitoring.
Addressing mediapersons here, Rohit said Odisha currently has a thermal power generation capacity of around 11,500-12,000 MW of which nearly 70-75 per cent (8,800-9,000 MW) is concentrated in Jharsuguda, Sambalpur and Sundargarh districts.
Claiming that the state’s actual electricity requirement stands at only 6,600-7,000 MW, he questioned the need for such high levels of production.
The BJD leader said thermal power plants in the three western Odisha districts together generate around 14-16 million tonne of fly ash annually, while the government lacks adequate land and infrastructure to safely dispose of such large quantities under the existing SOP. He claimed that the region is gradually turning into an environmental crisis zone due to large-scale generation and improper disposal of fly ash.
He further alleged that the current system indirectly benefits fly ash mafia who misuse provisions of the SOP. “In many cases, permission is granted for disposal at a particular site but ash is illegally dumped in other areas including agricultural land, forest areas, ponds, rivers and even residential zones,” he said.
Demanding corrective measures, Rohit called for withdrawal of the present SOP and preparation of a transparent scientific roadmap for fly ash management.