Nawanshahr can't breathe easy as no end to ash problem

Nawanshahar, June 14

Residents of Nawanshahr, under the banner of the Lok Sangharsh Manch, on Tuesday visited the premises of the Cooperative Sugar Mills to take stock of the ongoing repair work and expressed their displeasure with the administration and power plant officials over their casual approach towards resolving the issue of ash emanating from the power plant.

New wet scrubber installed

• The ash problem would soon be a thing of the past as a new wet scrubber has been installed in the plant, said DC Randhawa
• The DC visited the cogeneration power plant today, and said that a test run for the plant would be conducted in July
• The vice-president of the plant, S Bandhopadhyay, briefed the DC today on the progress
• He said the process of the insulation layer of boilers is in progress in order to reduce the heat in the surrounding areas of the boiler
• Randahwa has asked the plant to complete the auxiliary work at the earliest

Jasbir Deep, the convener of Lok Sangharsh Manch, noted a months-long lull in the process of crushing sugarcanes at the mill. Despite repeated assurances from the power plant officials that the necessary work would be completed within two months, the machinery required has yet not been delivered.

Deep rued that the residents have been grappling with the ash problem for approximately four months now. “We have held meetings with the district administration and officials from the power plant and the sugar mill. We have staged sit-ins. However, there is still no respite from the problem. The district administration, power plant, and sugar mill officials have yet not fixed the problem,” he added.

Taking a serious view of the residents’ complaints, Nawanshahr DC NPS Randhawa said, “The problem of ash emanating from the biomass fuel-based power plant being run on the premises of Cooperative Sugar Mills would soon be a thing of the past as a new wet scrubber has been installed in the plant.”

He visited the cogeneration power plant today, and said that a test run for the plant would be conducted in the second week of July after the renovation of the electrostatic precipitator (ESP) is complete.

The vice-president of the plant, S Bandhopadhyay, briefed the DC today on the progress. He said, “Now, the process of the insulation layer of boilers is in progress in order to reduce the heat in the surrounding areas of the boiler.”

He said the new part has already undergone a smoke test. DC Randhawa also took feedback from the general manager of sugar mill, Surinder Pal.

Randahwa has asked the cogeneration plant management to complete the auxiliary work at the earliest.

He assured the residents of Nawanshahar that the problem of ash emanating from the plant would soon be fixed for good.