Two ash-eliminators soon in UPCL plant: Palemar

Bangalore, February 2: The Udupi Power Corporation Limited is expected to complete the works related to tackling fly-ash problem within a week, according to Minister for Environment and Ecology J Krishna Palemar.

In response to a question posed by Congress member K Pratapchandra Shetty during the Question Hour in the Legislative Council, Mr Palemar also made it clear that the State government would give clearance for Commissioning of the UPCL's second generating unit only after resolving all these issues.

He informed that the eliminators were being installed to two cooling towers of the power plant to prevent flyash from drifting and settling down on human settlements and habitations.

“The process of installing the eliminator to one of the cooling tower is almost complete. Perhaps, it would be over in about eight days after which the work on the other cooling tower will begin. We hope this will solve the problems created by flyash,” Palemar added.

He also said that the government had received 16 complaints and the deputy commissioner of Udupi district had received 946 complaints related to pollution caused by the power plant of the above company due to the fly-ash.

Following complaints, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board had conducted hearings as well as inspection. After this, the UPCL had replaced the 7.2-km pipeline that was being used to draw sea water to the plant. This had prevented accidental entry of sea water to the nearby places due to the breakage of pipes.

Similarly, the drift from the cooling towers was settling in the adjacent agricultural fields and houses.

He said the UPCL would enter into an agreement with the ACC cements to allow the cement company to set up a cement blending unit near the project area by using the fly-ash. This would help check the fly-ash problem completely, he said.

According to Palemar, only one unit of the UPCL is functioning at present and the permission for the commissioning of the second unit will be given once these safety measures (eliminators) are installed.