CHENNAI: At 11 pm on Monday, when people of Seppakkam village were fast asleep after a day's hard labour, a toxic flood came knocking. By next morning, the entire village with 100 households was painted grey after fly ash slurry leaked from a busted pipeline of the North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS).
Seppakkam residents have been battling this menace for two decades now. However, this leak was unprecedented, says local resident Vegadeshan.
"Had the leak occurred during the day time, the authorities would have acted quicker and limited the damage. But this incident happened at about 11 pm in the night and we noticed and reported it only in the morning. By that time, the entire village got flooded. We don't want to stay in this village which has no bus connectivity, hospital facility, school, drinking water and proper sanitation. We had requested Tangedco to rehabilitate us to a better location," he said.
Seppakkam is a village located in the shadows of the 1,000 acre ash pond operated by the Tangedco owned NCTPS. Houses have been invaded before by ash slurry from leaking pipelines and seepage from the unlined dykes. Residents also face extremely high levels of ash in the air as dust. This affects their health, contaminates stored water and food and damages clothes, utensils and other household items.
When contacted, senior officials of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) told The New Indian Express that necessary directions were issued to NCTPS to replace the damaged ash slurry pipelines at the earliest. In fact, the joint inspection report of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), IIT Madras and TNPCB, which was submitted to the National Green Tribunal in August last year, highlights the pathetic conditions of these pipelines.
The report, a copy of which is available with The New Indian Express, said, "All the five ash slurry disposal pipelines were constructed during 1995-96. Presently, the pipelines are rusted and worn-out from outside and all the ash slurry disposal pipelines have exceeded the design life period. Though the committee intended to perform a test to check for leakages, the power plant itself admitted that the pipelines are leaking and they shall replace all five pipelines."
NCTPS officials say the power plant carries out maintenance work in the ash pipelines whenever leaks are detected. However, the committee noted that by the time the power plant identifies the leak and repairs it, due to high capacity pumps, a considerable quantity of ash slurry would have been disposed of into the surroundings. "The plant has not taken up any preventive/maintenance work to avoid any leakages or for upkeep of pipelines," the report reads.