Optimistic about completion of land acquisition for its 1,000 MW power plant near Cuttack in five months, Tata Power has allayed fears that it may cause air, water and noise pollution and said the thermal unit would adopt latest environmental safety technology.
"We expect the whole process of land acquisition for the Naraj Marthapur coal-based power project to be completed by October, this year," Project Director (eastern region) of Tata Power, Praveer Sinha said.
Maintaining that the company was for fair and just compensation for land, structures and trees, Sinha, who visited the proposed plant site with other company officials, said price for land would be settled through ‘direct win-win negotiations with sellers’.
Rates offered would be higher than benchmark rates fixed by Orissa government, Sinha and other company officials pointed out, adding most advanced technologies would be used in the Rs 5,000-crore project to minimise plant emission.
… Ruling out any adverse impact on the air quality of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar due to the plant, he said water spraying would be undertaken in coal yard area to suppress the dust, while high efficiency electrostatic precipitator would be installed for removal of fly as from the flue gas.
"All these measures would keep emission of ash and coal dust to well below the statutory norms," a senior official at Tata Power’s Jamshedpur plant said, adding flue gas would be released through 275 metre tall stack, three times taller than Qutub Minar.
Explaining the steps to check water pollution, Sinha said fly ash generated from the plant would be stored within the plant premises and it would not be dumped into Mahanadi river or Puri canal.
Fly ash, said another senior executive, would be directly utilised by the cement industry, brick manufacturing, road and pavement construction, fertilisers and for bund preparation in farms. "Therefore, the quality of water in Puri canal or Mahanadi river or Puri canal will not be affected and will not impact marine life at all," he said.
Similarly, he said waste water generated from the plant would be reused within the plant and discharge, if any, was likely to take place only during rainy season when excess water is available.
"Such water will be discharged only after treatment of effluents and its quality will comply with the applicable effluents standards," he said.
Sinha said steps would be taken to ensure that no pollutant material is discharged into the river. Ash would not pollute ground water due to impervious lining of the ash pond into which the ash would be disposed.
Ruling out noise pollution due to the power unit, company officials also made it clear that the machinery and equipment would meet all the national standards of noise limits.
Further, thick green belt would be developed around the project site to minimise the impacts of noise created by transport of coal by railways. Around two lakh trees would be planted in the green belt to absorb dust and noise.
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