‘Cost of fly ash disposal may make power dearer’

LUCKNOW: The state’s power consumers may have to shell out more on their electricity bills in view of the Central government’s recent notification that asks thermal power plants to bear the cost of disposal of unutilized fly ash to save the environment, an official said.

The additional cost burden was likely to be passed on to consumers, the official added.

Fly ash is produced from the burning of coal at the thermal stations.

The revised notification issued on the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) directives asks the country’s thermal plants to pay to the road agencies like the National Highway Authority of India and the public works department the cost of transporting the fly ash so that they could use the same in road construction in a 300 km radius of the power plants.

“As per the notification, we

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As per the notification, we are supposed to pay Rs 1760 per ton. Since we have lakhs of tons of unutilized fly ash lying at thermal plants, we may have to pay hundreds of crores to road agencies to use our fly ash OFFICIAL, UP Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd

are supposed to pay Rs 1760 per ton. Since we have lakhs of tons of unutilized fly ash lying at the thermal plants, we may have to pay hundreds of crores of rupees to the road agencies to use our fly ash,” an official of the UP Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd said. “The cost will naturally be passed on to consumers in the form of costly electricity at their end,” he added.

Although cement factories purchase a lot of fly ash, there are certain power plants whose fly ash remains unsold or unutilized.

“The Centre asks (us) either to utilize the fly ash or pay the road agencies for its utiisation in roads but the transportation cost that we are supposed to pay is too high,” said another official.

Taking exception to the notification, UP Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad president Awadhesh Kumar Verma demanded the Centre or the state governments should bear the cost.

“Power plants will pass the burden on to the consumers if they are asked to pay the transportation cost,” he said.

Verma said consumers would first pay for the transportation of the fly ash and, after a national highway was made using fly ash, they would also be asked to pay the toll tax when they move on it.

“It is unfair for the government to make the consumer bear brunt of fly ash disposal,” he said.