THOOTHUKUDI: Even as Thoothukudi Thermal Power Station (TTPS) denied releasing 20% of the ash generated by its boilers free of cost to fly ash brick manufacturers for the past nine months, the Ministry of Power (MoP) 's circular to keep its monetisation advisory dated February 22 in abeyance had given a ray of hope for the fly ash brick manufacturers get a free supply of their raw material.
The MoP advisory stated fly ash is emerging as a valuable commodity and the residual ashes may be monetised to control the spiking electricity charges. The advisory led TANGEDCO to stop renewing allotment orders of fly ash brick manufacturing beneficiaries from March 31. Until then, the brick manufacturers were entitled to one-fifth of the dry ash based on Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) notifications issued in 1999 and 2009. These manufacturers play a vital role in converting harmful coal ash into an eco-friendly material and fly ash bricks were promoted with an aim to restrict the production of clay bricks which exploit the terrain's topsoil cover.
Lipton, an ash brick manufacturer, said that 107 fly ash brick manufacturers functioning within 300 km of TTPS, had the allotment order to get a share of 20 % of its dry ash. They potentially consume 18,830 tonnes of the material per month. "However, the TTPS has been dumping the dry ash into an ash dyke located near Hare Island, by the process of flurry, for the past nine months. This has intensified pollution in the environmentally sensitive zone of the Gulf of Mannar," he charged.
Tamil Nadu Fly ash Bricks and Block Manufacturers Association President Tulasiram told TNIE that the TTPS, given its power generation capacity of 1,050 MW, must have dumped over 1.62 lakh tonnes of dry ash in the past nine months, ultimately polluting the sea environment.
Though the TTPS authorities claim that they are selling more dry ash to cement factories since this April, the brick manufacturers association founder president DS Saravanan said a huge quantity of the material would not have been sold since the NTPL and other private coal-fired thermal power plants have tendered ashes for Rs 315 per tonne and Rs 120 per tonne respectively, while the TTPS' charges Rs 631 per tonne.
Fisherfolk and environmentalists have already raised concerns about the dumping of fly ash in the sea as it contains toxic chemicals such as arsenic, barium, cadmium, nickel, and lead.
In the 'Amaravati Fly Ash Bricks Manufacturers Association versus Union of India' case, the principal bench of NGT headed by Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi, and Judicial member DR Afroz Ahmad on August 25 ordered the MoP not to enforce the advisory dated February 22, and that the advisory would remain in abeyance till further orders of the tribunal.
Owing to this NGT order, the MoP, through communication on December 6, directed all the coal and lignite-based thermal power plants to keep its February 22 advisory in abeyance and take appropriate steps to ensure maximum utilisation of ash to comply with the MoEF&CC notifications. When contacted, a senior TTPS official told TNIE that they did not receive any communication from TANGEDCO headquarters to disburse 20% dry fly ash free of cost to the fly ash brick manufacturers.