Taking step forward towards reducing pollution in the state and saving the farm topsoil, Punjab Power Minister Mr. Harbhajan Singh ETO, on Friday, directed the officials of PSPCL to immediately provide fly ash of thermal plants for ongoing road projects in the state.
While presiding over the meeting of PSPCL and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials, the Cabinet Minister said that about 400 lakh tonnes of fly ash lying in the thermal plants of the state and its timely disposal will get relief from pollution, besides shunning the trend of digging topsoil from the nearby fields for road projects.
Mr. Harbhajan Singh ETO said, NHAI requires 950 lakh cubic tonnes of fly ash, which can be easily supplied, adding that at present about 200 lakh tonnes of fly ash is available at Guru Nanak Thermal Plant Bathinda, 90 lakh tonnes at Ropar Thermal Plant, 70 lakh tonnes at Lehra Mohabbat Thermal Plant, 33 lakh tonnes at Talwandi Sabo Thermal Plant and 20 lakhs tonnes of fly ash is available at Rajpura Thermal Plant.
He directed the PSPCL officials to immediately accord approvals to NHAI in this regard so that disposal of fly ash and completion of road projects could be ensured.Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led government was committed to complete the road projects at the earliest and the work of road projects will not allow to disrupt due to non supply of fly ash, he added.
Mr. Vipnesh Sharma Regional Officer NHAI, Mr. Paramjit Singh Director (Generation) PSPCL, Mr. Naveen Bansal Chief Engineer Lehra Mohabbat Thermal Plant, Mr. Manjit Singh Chief Engineer Ropar Thermal Plant and Deputy Chief Engineer Mr. Vipan Malhotra and Mr. Narendra Mehta Deputy Chief Engineer Chandigarh and other officials were present in the meeting.