Senthilbalaji equate power plant's pipeline leaks to vehicle repairs

CHENNAI: Electricity Minister V Senthilbalaji on Tuesday equated the frequent bursting of North Chennai Thermal Power Plants' fly ash pipelines to bikes and cars getting repaired on the way to work and said that they were taking quick action to fix the leakage as and when it happens.

Despite the National Green Tribunal pulling up Tangedco on several occasions for the rampant ash pipeline leak, it continues to happen to cause severe damage to the environment and Ennore Creek. He commented after inspecting the construction of the Ennore SEZ Super Critical Thermal Power Station on Tuesday.

When asked about the frequent bursting of fly ash pipelines of NCTPS, he said that whenever there was a leak, immediate action was taken to rectify it. When a reporter pointed out that there was a leak that happened on Sunday during the Minister’s visit, Senthilbalaji said that it was like a bike or car getting repaired while going to work. “Since you (reporter) belong to the local area, you will be knowing the immediate steps taken to rectify the issues, ” he said.

On the Ennore SEZ project progress, the minister said that the 1330 MW project was supposed to be commissioned by March 2018 but till now only 53 per cent of the work has been completed. “We have asked the BHEL, the EPC contractor of the project, to increase the manpower to complete work soon. The first unit is will be commissioned in March 2024 and the second unit in June 2024,” he said.

To a question on the new incident of coal missing in the NCTPS, the minister dismissed it as hearsay and said that he along with the Tangedco CMD are monitoring the coal stock report on a daily basis. “The committee formed for the coal missing during the previous AIADMK regime has submitted its report and soon action would be taken on it, ” he added. He said that Tamil Nadu has imported the coal at the cheapest price of US $ 143 per ton while other states have imported the coal at the price of US$ 184-187 per ton.

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