• Fly ash dumping causes crop loss in Nandgaon village
• May cause water pollution in Pench river after heavy rains in coming days  

 

Nandgaon fly ash bund in Khaperkheda has once again breached on Tuesday which damaged agriculture fields in Nandgaon village. Nandgaon bund, which is situated over 723 acre land, was acquired by Maharashtra Electricity Generation Company Limited (MahaGenco) from local residents way back in 1988 for fly ash dumping. However, the bund was never used for dumping fly ash from Khaperkheda Thermal Power Plant since then. After a long time, the bund was used back in 2021 when it caused damage to agriculture fields in the vicinity, leading to crop loss for farmers. At that time, after tremendous protest by local farmers and environment activists, the then State Environment Minister Aditya Thackeray stopped ash dumping in the bund. Now, after five years, the same ash bund breached on Tuesday as MahaGenco started using the bund for dumping fly ash from Khaperkheda.

 

“The land was acquired by MahaGenco for fly ash dumping long back but they never used the bund. As a result, farmers started agriculture work on the land. But after overloading of Waregaon fly ash bund which is also situated in Khaperkheda area, MahaGenco used Nandgaon for the first time in 2021 for ash dumping. Now again, they did the same thing without following any scientific procedure,” said Leena Buddhe, Director, Centre For Sustainable Development (CFSD), the NGO which is standing with affected farmers of Waregaon and Nandgaon for last many years. MahaGenco stopped dumping fly ash in Waregaon ash bund due to intervention of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB).

 

Now, the Board directed MahaGenco to utilise 100 per cent generated fly ash to stop dumping it in Khaparkheda area. However, MahaGenco failed to utilise 100 per cent fly ash and they have restriction to dump it in Waregaon as it is already full. Therefore, the electricity generation company is now dumping fly ash in Nandgaon as it was acquired for dumping. However, as per MPCB norms, MahaGenco has to first do proper lining and create lagoons in the ash bund before using it for dumping. But, without following the norms, MahaGenco once again started dumping fly ash in Nandgaon openly, claimed Buddhe. On Tuesday, the ash was visibly flowing in agriculture fields in Nandgaon which is also situated close to Pench river. In case of heavy rains, the ash may pollute the river in coming days, therefore, the administration should take action against MahaGenco to avoid pollution in the Pench river, said Buddhe.