Waregaon ash bund collapses again, damages farms
| Date :20-Jul-2023 |
Staff Reporter
The authorities concerned have learned no lessons from the last year’s tragedy at Waregaon ash bund of Khaperkheda Thermal Power Plant. Along with farmers having agriculture land in the vicinity of the power plant, citizens also continue to reel under the constant threat of toxic pollution due to fly ash. On Wednesday, the Waregaon ash bund of Khaperkheda Thermal Power Plant collapsed again. Due to the tragedy, water mixed with fly ash gushed into the agricultural land destroying crops in the farms of at least 15 farmers. In last monsoon, the ash bund collapse had resulted in overflowing of the bund and fly ash-water repeatedly polluting Kanhan river. This incident had a cascading effect on water supply system of the Nagpur city.
On Wednesday, the incident took place at 8 am when the dam on the ash bund collapsed resulting in slurry water in large quantity gushing into nearby agricultural fields. After getting information about the incident, District Collector Dr Vipin Itankar inspected the spot and instructed officials to conduct panchanama. Officials of Khaperkheda Thermal Power Plant swung into action and managed to stop the flow of slurry water further into the nearby areas. Kamlakar Bangre, Sarpanch, Waregaon village said, “We asked the officials to compensate our loss as early as possible. We are yet to overcome losses incurred due to the last year’s incidence. How will we survive this now?”
Bangre said, “The administration will conduct panchanama of the spot, and pay compensation to the affected farmers. But what about the infertility of our land which will produce nothing at least for next three years due to this incident?”
Last year, the bund overflowed for three days which affected farmers in large numbers. “The intensity of that breach was understood only afterwards when more ash water started gushing into the fields. Earlier, it was looked like that this water was from the nullah overflow. It is only in the late evening the sarpanch actually came to know that it is a breach. The repair work is on, and the exact scenario will be cleared in the morning hours,” said Leena Buddhe, Director, Centre for Sustainable Development (CFSD). “Ash destroys farm in a way that the land becomes unfit for farming for years. And not just the environment, the ash pollution poses a huge threat to public health,” said Buddhe.