Current Affairs

UPSC Fly Ash Management and Utilisation Mission - English

Context

• Recently, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the constitution of a ‘Fly Ash Management and Utilisation Mission’.

What is a Fly ash?

• Fly ash is an unwanted unburnt residue of coal combustion in a coal thermal power plant.
• It is emitted along with flue gases during the burning of coal in a furnace and collected using the electrostatic precipitators.
• It is hazardous for health and the environment due to the concentrated presence of heavy metals.

Environmental Benefits:

• increasing the life of concrete roads and structures by improving concrete durability,
• net reduction in energy use and greenhouse gas and other adverse air emissions when fly ash is used to replace or displace manufactured cement,
• reduction in amount of coal combustion products that must be disposed in landfills,
• conservation of natural resources and materials.

Processing of Fly Ash

• The fly ash collected with the help of precipitators is converted into a wet slurry to minimise fugitive dust emissions.
• It is then transported to the scientifically designed ash ponds through slurry pipes lines.
• The ash ponds are lined with dykes to hold the slurry in place.

Issue with management

• Gross under-utilisation has led to the accumulation of tonnes of fly ash, causing environmental hazards.
• Unscientific handling and storage of the fly ash by coal thermal power stations.
• Reasons: hydraulic pressure induced by excessive rainfall causes ash to overflow in storage units.
• Substandard construction of ash dykes, leads to collapse of dykes, flooding nearby farms, fields and even homes with toxic ash.
• It thus pollutes soil, air, water, damage crops, and cause cardio-pulmonary illnesses.

About Fly Ash Management and Utilisation Mission:

Objectives:

• To coordinate and monitor issues relating to the handling and disposal of fly ash and associated issues.
• To ​​make the roadmaps and progress in fly ash utilisation available for all thermal power plants and their clusters.

Headed by: Secretaries, of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC), of the Union Ministry of Coal and Power and the chief secretaries of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Nodal Agency: The secretary of MoEF&CC for coordination and compliance.

Role of the Mission

• To monitor scientific management and utilisation of fly ash by power projects.
• It mandates the individual thermal power plant to upload monthly information regarding ash generation and utilisation on its web portal.
• On-site and off-site crisis management plans with regard to fly ash ponds and dykes.

Concerns over the mission

• There are some overlaps and distinctions in the responsibilities allocated to the committees under the Fly Ash Notification.
• The new notification has made provision for the ‘enforcement, monitoring, audit and reporting’ of the progress of fly ash utilisation and implementation of the notification by coal thermal power plants and user agencies.
• The notification holds the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB) / Pollution Control Committees (PCC) responsible for monitoring the effective implementation of mandates under it.

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