Bathinda thermal lowers pollution

Submitted by VK Gupta on Sun, 20/01/2013 - 5:16am

Bathinda thermal plant succeeds in lowering pollution
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 19
The city residents suffering pollution from Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant here for decades can finally breathe easy.

With renovation and modernisation of the third unit of the plant now complete, its pollution level has come down drastically. The life of the plant too has increased by 20 years.

Power officials claim the unit emits suspended particles below 100 mg per metric cube, which is lower than 150 mg per metric cube as approved by the Punjab Pollution Control Board. The capacity of the unit has also been increased to 120 MW from 110 MW earlier.

"The third unit, which was under renovation for almost two years, has been commercialised. It is a quantum jump in technology. The thermal plant having four units is one of the oldest in the country. It had pollution related issues. We have brought the pollution emission level well below the prescribed limits," said KD Chowdhry, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL).

"The emission of the most modern third unit is below 100 mg. The first two units emit up to 150 mg," said HP Singh, Chief Engineer (Operation and Maintenance), Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant.

Pollution caused by the plant in the form of fly ash had become a major environment and health hazard for the city residents. The low height of its chimneys (75 m) had compounded the matter as the Indian Air Force had not allowed to raise their height for security reasons in the 1970s. The renovation of the fourth unit of the thermal plant is expected to be over by June this year. The first and second units were renovated a few years ago. The third and fourth units had been causing high pollution.

"BHEL is undertaking the renovation project. We are trying our best to make it functional before the paddy season this year." said HP Singh.

He said the combined cost of the renovation of the third and fourth unit was Rs 465 crore. The renovation was behind schedule as BHEL faced some unforeseen problems in the project.