Fly ash spills across 30 acres after breach in NTPC power plant dyke in MP’s Singrauli

A fly ash dyke of a power plant of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) at Singrauli developed a breach on Sunday evening resulting in spillage of fly ash that affected at least 30 acres of land while 15 cattle were reported missing, said police.

The NTPC management said there was no loss of life or damage to any outsider’s property due to the incident.

Singrauli superintendent of police Abhijeet Ranjan said, “The incident of fly ash dyke breach happened inside NTPC plant. The CISF personnel who are posted inside the plant are taking care of the situation.

We have received information that about 30 acres land has been affected and 15 cattle were reported missing. The evaluation of loss, if any, will be done by NTPC only.”

“No FIR has been lodged in connection with the incident. However, we are keeping a close watch on the situation,” the SP said.

When contacted public relations officer, NTPC, Vindhyachal power plant, Lalmani Pandey said work was on to restore the plant’s normal functions.

“There is no loss of life and no damage done to any property of any villager. In fact, the incident was confined to the NTPC premises only. The restoration work is going on.”

This is the second incident of fly ash spillage in Singrauli in two months.

On August 7, cracks had developed in a fly ash dyke of Essar Power MP Ltd’s 1,200 MW coal-based thermal Mahan power plant near village Bandhaura. The fly-ash leaked from the dyke reportedly turned into mudslide and affected nearby villages. Five children trapped in it were rescued by the district administration, the police had claimed.

Later, Singruali collector KVS Chaudhary asked the company to pay ₹50 lakh compensation to farmers whose crops were damaged while the MP Pollution Control Board sought an interim fine of ₹10 crore from the power company for damage caused to environment due to spillage of fly ash.

While it paid the compensation to the farmers it has requested the MP Pollution Control Board to waive the fine.

The power company had denied that the breach in ash dyke was due to any negligence on its part and had attributed the incident to sabotage by outsiders.