Jamshedpur, April 12: Kandra-based thermal power plant Adhunik Power and Natural Resources (APNRL) today gave in to the demands of villagers to remove fly ash from a high drain and agricultural fields across 22 villages in Gamharia in adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district, paving the way for the restoration of a transmission tower belonging to Jharkhand Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (JUVNL).
The tower in Pindrabera village, which draws power from APNRL, was toppled in a storm on Friday. Local residents prevented officials from carrying out restoration work till the fly ash from the thermal plant was removed.
Seraikela sub-divisional officer (SDO) Sandeep Dubey said repairing and reinstallation of the tower began today, following a tripartite pact among APNRL, villagers and the local administration.
"The villagers agreed to allow JUVNL to reinstall the tower after APNRL gave a written undertaking that it would remove the accumulated fly ash from the drain and agricultural land within 50 days," the SDO told The Telegraph.
Dubey said the tower would be restored within 3-4 days and the administration would review APNRL's progress with regard to the removal of fly ash on April 25.
"APNRL has also assured villagers that it will not release fly ash into the nullah in future," he said.
On Tuesday, JUVNL general manager K.K. Verma had written a letter to Seraikela-Kharswan SP Rakesh Bansal seeking police help for the reinstallation of the fallen tower that had cut off power supply to Adityapur and Gamharia.
Binod Mardi, a protester, said APNRL had been releasing fly ash into the nullah, whose water is used for agricultural purposes, ever since it started production four years back.
"We can't cultivate our fields because of the fly ash. Hundreds of acres of cultivable land have been damaged," he said.
APNRL, which is about 2km from Pidrabera village and 20km from Jamshedpur, initially produced 540MW a day after burning over 3,000 tonnes of coal. Now the plant produces only 270MW following the shutting down of its turbine in 2015.
A senior official of APNRL said, "We expect that power transmission will resume soon after the restoration work."
