Inspection report of the joint committee constituted in the matter of Vijay Kumar Singh Vs State of Bihar & Others, 26/11/2024.

The team visited industry premises of M/s NTPC Ltd., Nabinagar Super Thermal Power Station, Nabinagar, Aurangabad and M/s Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Company Ltd. (BRBCL), Nabinagar, Aurangabad. The date of inspection was October 28-29, 2024.

A complaint was made before the NGT with respect to air pollution caused due to usage of degraded quality of coal by NTPC's plants (NPGCL and BRBCL). According to the letter petition of Vijay Kumar Singh,  M/s Nabinagar Power Generation Co Ltd (NPGCL) and M/s Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Co Ltd (BRBCL), both are subsidiary of M/s NTPC, and are using degraded quality of coal by mixing waste material, black filter dust and dolo char and causing pollution which further affects the animals, agriculture and general public.

The 287 page report is in response to the NGT order, October 3, 2024. The joint committee recommended that a wheel washing system should be installed at the outgate of the ash dyke at NTPC-NSTPS, Nabinagar, Aurangabad. The connecting road between highway and ash dyke should be made up of roller compacted concrete (RCC). The vehicles transporting fly ash need to be covered from all sides so that fly ash cannot spillover and overload stops. Ensure 100 per cent ash utilization within next year as per the environmental clearance conditions, were some of the recommendations for NSTPS.

The recommendations for NTPC-NSTPS, Nabinagar, Aurangabad included a mechanical vacuum cleaning system in place to clean all RCC roads on a regular basis and collected ash should be disposed properly. The unit need to ensure zero liquid discharge, no discharge from the ash dyke and ensure installation of oil and grease section to the ETP as per the requirement.  The unit should ensure maintenance of the water spraying system at wagon tippler section and stop unloading till the system put in operation.