Representative image of pollution.
Credit: PTI Photo
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has instructed the state and regional authorities to monitor thermal plants and ensure that they upload details of the total fly ash generation and utilisation every month.
Fly ash produced by thermal plants during the burning of coal is a major contributor to air pollution. To achieve 100 per cent utilisation, the CPCB has now developed a portal on its website for regular monitoring of generation and utilisation.
The state pollution control board authorities and regional officials of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) have now been told to ensure the data is uploaded on the portal by the 5th day of the month. The details of ash ponds, which contain legacy fly ash, should be updated on a yearly basis.
In India, 68.88 million tonnes of fly ash was generated in 1996-97 which increased to 270.82 million tonnes in 2021-22. Although the MoEF&CC issued a notification for its utilisation in 2009, lack of enforcement meant the utilisation was limited to about 55 per cent.
Many activists had approached the courts and the National Green Tribunal over the pollution caused by fly ash.
A report by the CPCB showed that in 2021-22 a total of 270.82 million tonnes of fly ash was generated in India and about 96 per cent of it was utilised in cement manufacturing (25.41 per cent), roads and flyovers (16.98 per cent), reclamation of low lying areas (13.14 per cent), bricks and tiles (11.7 per cent) and other purposes.