Plea in NGT seeks closure of R-Power's Sasan UMPP for dumping industrial waste in Rihand reservoir

A plea seeking closure and cancellation of environmental clearance of Reliance Power's Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project, in Madhya Pradesh's Singrauli area, for deliberately throwing industrial waste in the Rihand reservoir has been filed in the National Green Tribunal.

A plea seeking closure and cancellation of environmental clearance of Reliance Power's Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project, in Madhya Pradesh's Singrauli area, for deliberately throwing industrial waste in the Rihand reservoir has been filed in the National Green Tribunal. The plea filed by advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey referred to an incident dated April 10, 2020 in which the ash dyke of the project was breached due to the "negligent act" of the unit.

The plea claimed that due to the breach, fly ash spread all over the agricultural land and allegedly resulted in the death of six innocent villagers (including 3 minor children) and cattle was swept away with the ash slurry in the "Rihand Reservoir" Dubey alleged that the breach has led to excessive fluoride concentration in the water, causing tumours and other health hazardous to the residents in the vicinity. District officials had said the sludge has affected crops spread over an area of 25 acre.

The plea has sought removal of all industrial waste from the water bodies, villages, drinking wells, agricultural fields and from the reservoir, also known as Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar. It has sought NGT's intervention to formulate requisite guidelines and to secure proper checks and balance with respect to dumping of industrial waste by the industries in the area.

In a similar incident on October 6, 2019, ash dyke of NTPC Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station in Singrauli was breached and more than 35 lakh metric tonnes of fly ash got into the Govind Vallabh Pant Sagar ''Rihand Reservoir''..