M A I N   N E W S

Coal ash rains in Bathinda
From Chander Parksh
Tribune News Service

BATHINDA, Jan 27 — Bathinda ho gaya sulfi, chilma chaar rakhda (Bathinda has become an addict and has four pipes of smoke). This slogan was coined by an eminent educationist of Punjab after four chimneys of Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP) came up in the city.

Now the ‘four pipes’ of the GNDTP have become a major source of health hazard for the people as the coal ash being emitted from these chimneys rains in the city and its surrounding areas. The coal ash rain, which has been hitting the city and its surrounding areas for the past many years, has exposed the residents to various diseases, including eye ailments, asthma, bronchitis and tuberculosis.

So alarming is the situation that every year 1,800 cases of tuberculosis are being detected in the area while there is a considerable rise in the number of persons suffering from asthma, bronchitis and emphysem.

The GNDTP, the first thermal plant to be set up in Punjab in 1975 has been generating electricity units, reducing fuel consumption, reducing auxiliary power consumption and that of demineralised water for the past many years and winning cash and other prizes on this account.

However, the PSEB authorities have failed to bring the quantity of ash contents being emitted from the four chimneys under control and to make the plant environmentally sustainable.

The GNDTP authorities have been repeatedly denying the fact that various respiratory diseases and eye ailments were on the rise due to the ash emitted from the chimneys, the authorities claimed that emission of flyash from the chimneys was brought under control after the installation of electrostatic precipitators (BSP).

The authorities claimed that air pollution had increased due to an increase in the population of motor vehicles and industries being set up in the area. They claimed that emission of flyash from the chimneys in the air was less than the prescribed limit of 350 mg.mnsNM3, now that Bathinda city has been declared protected area, the emission level would have to be brought down to 150 mg/NM3.