The notice follows the massive breach at the plant’s Waregaon ash bund, which flooded 15 farms leading to crop damage.
Issued by MPCB’s regional officer Hema Deshpande, the notice revealed that state power generation company Mahagenco has failed to pay environmental compensation of ₹93 lakh and ₹13.5 lakh, which had been imposed by the board last year after a similar breach occurred at Koradi power plant’s Khasala ash bund.
MPCB slammed Mahagenco for not taking serious note of the issue and failing to carry out a feasibility audit of its ash bunds. According to the notice, board officials had inspected the Waregaon bund after the breach, and found that the breach in the bund’s wall led to overflow of ash effluent in surrounding agricultural fields and Kanhan river basin. “You have failed to manage the excess flow from the toe drain around the ash bund,” the board wrote.
After the inspection, the power company had written a letter to MPCB, informing that the capacity of Waregaon ash bund was exhausted. Referring to it, MPCB stated that the plant authorities did not take measures towards disposal of legacy fly-ash in the bund, thus violating fly-ash utilization norms. “This resulted in the breach of bund and contamination of surrounding areas,” the board added.
It further highlighted that frequent complaints had been made regarding discharge of ash mixed water into Kanhan river before the breach incident.
“These non-compliances show the negligent attitude towards implementation of environmental laws and violating the provisions of Water Act, 1974, Air Act, 1981 and Hazardous and Other Wastes Rules 2016 and amendment 2019,” the notice stated. It sought a reply from Mahagenco on why stringent action should not be taken for the lapses. In case the company fails to reply within seven days, MPCB has warned of legal action.
Affected farmers from Waregaon told TOI that they have not yet received any compensation in lieu of crop damage. “We are not allowing the officials to clear ash from our farmlands now. If we do so, then the remaining few crops will also get destroyed due to movement of vehicles. We can’t afford to bear more losses as we are already facing extreme financial stress due to the breach,” they said.
