ANGUL: The public hearing of the proposed 10 million tonne capacity Jagannath coal washery at Talcher coalfield will be held on February 16. As per a notification of Odisha State Pollution Control Board, the public hearing will be held at Jagannath Kalakendra.
The washery will be owned by Mahanadi Coalfield Limited (MCL) but would be outsourced to private entity on build, operate and maintain (BOM) basis.
The private party will produce washed coal from raw coal and provide it to the company. The washery, according to plan, has to produce washed coal by mid 2017. It will be set up at Bhubaneswrai coalmine complex here.
There would be six more washeries, three each in Talcher and IB Valley coalfield by the stipulated time. Recently, Coal Secretary Anil Swarup had laid the foundation stone of a coal washery at Laxmanpur during his three-day visit. Regional Officer, OSPCB, S Dash said, the question as to whether a highly polluted area like Talcher will withstand further pollution resulting from a new coal washery, is subjective. “It will depend on the method of the plant’s operation,” he said.