On one hand the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has included Nagpur in the list of 131 non-attainment cities for its poor air quality, yet MahaGenco is keen on starting a new thermal power plant at Koradi, which is in the vicinity of the city. In a recent development, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has called a public hearing on May 29 for any objections against the ‘extension’ of Koradi 2x660 MW Coal Based Supercritical Thermal Power Plant in the existing Koradi Thermal Power Plant premises. According to provisions of MoEF&CC amended notification dated December 1, 2009, MahaGenco has requested MPCB to conduct a environment public hearing for their proposed plant. “This environment public hearing is being organised according to the TOR (Terms of Reference) granted by MoEF&CC to MahaGenco on June 20, 2020,” the notice further stated. Further, “All persons, including citizens, environmental groups, and locals at the site affected by the project can participate in the public hearing, physically or virtually.”

The public hearing will be conducted physically at the site as well as through online mode using webex platform, the link for which is: https: //mpcb.webex.com/mpcb/j.php?MTID=mf68c2c43ff81e009b9e2bc68c93a66a6 and the meeting number is 25116088953. The password for the meet would be 29052023. The public hearing will be held at 12.30 pm, MPCB sources said. The news of public hearing spread like a wild fire in the city after publishing in the newspaper. Environment experts and activists started protesting against the new thermal power plant in city.

“There are power plants in and near Nagpur including Butibori, MIHAN, Ghugus, and Wardha, which are non-functional. The government should restart such power plants instead of starting new plants,” Sudhir Paliwal, Convenor, Vidarbha Environmental Action Group and Nagpur Climate Crisis told ‘The Hitavada’. “We generate the power for Mumbai and Pune cities. We have limited consumption. Instead of starting new plant, the sanctioned thermal power plant in Nashik should be made functional. It will be more economically viable for MahaGenco as it is close to metros,” said Paliwal.

Pratap Goswami, General Secretary, Kisan Manch and green activist said, “The proposed power plant is largely going to cater to other regions of Maharashtra and not Vidarbha. The government of Maharashtra has failed to remove the backlog of irrigation in Vidarbha region. Power plants consume large quantities of water which shall be diverted from farmers to the power plant causing even more distress in the farm sector.” “The entire North Nagpur is receiving water supply contaminated with fly ash which is carcinogenic. MahaGenco has also failed to utilise 100% fly ash. This has led to both ground water contamination as well as soil contamination nearby Nagpur,” said Goswami “An in-depth study is needed in order to understand the pros and cons related to environment. Our main concern is Nagpur is having surplus power and transporting power generated at Nagpur to other parts of Maharashtra will have significant transmission loss. Hence, new power plant should be near to the end user,” said Kaustav Chatterjee, Founder, Green Vigil Foundation. “Fly ash issue from Koradi Thermal Power Plant has been a major concern for the villagers as it is causing health issues, crop loss, water contamination and air pollution. New plant will generate fly ash in another ash bund. It will increase the pollution and also cause health issues for the farmers and citizens,” said Anasuya Kale Chhabrani, President, Swacch Nagpur.