NGT Directs NTPC Power Plant to Deposit 10 Crore Interim Compensation for Dumping Fly Ash in Rihand Reservoir

The National Green Tribunal directed NTPC Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station, situated in Madhya Pradesh, to deposit a sum of Rs. 10 crore with the State Pollution Control Board, towards interim compensation for environmental damage. The direction has come in an application filed by Advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, in wake of a breach in the “Fly Ash Dyke” of the power plant, leading to contamination of Rihand Reservoir, the only source of drinking water for the people of Singrauli (MP) and Sonebhadra (UP) districts. In the earlier orders, the Tribunal had directed remedial action and had constituted an Oversight Committee (OC) headed by Justice, Rajesh Kumar, former Judge of the Allahabad High Court. The Committee had found that a large portion of Ash Dyke had been breached with the result huge quantity of fly ash had spread all over the land, and travelling up to the Rihand reservoir. It had therefore recommended an interim deposit of Rs. 10 crore.