A fire broke out in the coal handling plant of Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company on Sunday morning, which was quickly controlled by the fire department team. Even after this fire accident, all the plants of the power company are producing electricity uninterruptedly without any breakdown. Coal supply was restored via a conveyor belt within six hours of the incident. Instructions have been given for a preliminary investigation into this incident, for which an Additional Chief Engineer level officer has been given the responsibility. Generation Company’s Hasdeo Thermal Power Station Korba West has five power units totaling 1340 MW, out of which four units of 210 MW and one unit of 500 MW are operational. For power generation here, coal comes from the Kusmunda mine, 14 kilometers away, through three conveyor belts. A fire broke out in this conveyor belt at 8.30 am on Sunday.

 

The reason for this is said to be the friction between the head end pulley of coal conveyor 12B and the conveyor belt. As soon as information about the incident was received, the electrical staff became alert and the fire brigade was immediately informed. The fire was brought under control within some time. Power generation remained unaffected by this incident, as there is enough coal in the bunker of the generation plant to generate power for 24 hours without coal supply. Managing Director of Generation Company, Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Katiyar said that in this accident, about 50 meter old belt and pulley logging was damaged and some supply cables were burnt. The initial estimated loss due to this is around Rs 2 to 3 lakh.

 

Out of three conveyor belts of the company, Conveyor A was started within six hours at 3 pm and coal supply was started. The remaining two conveyors B and C will be made operational by late evening. All the plants are producing electricity at their full capacity and there is adequate availability of coal in the plants. Additional Chief Engineer (T&SS) MK Gupta has been appointed in-charge to investigate this incident. Four plants of Hasdeo Thermal Power Station Korba West are producing electricity better. Unit No. 04 of 210 MW, which was kept closed recently due to maintenance, will be made operational by 26th October.