CHENNAI: Environmental organisation Poovulagin Nanbargal has urged the State government to drop its proposed waste to energy plants, citing a Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) report that has rated such facilities 100/100 on its cumulative pollution index and questioned their classification under the ‘blue’ category.
The organisation said that the State government was planning waste to energy plants in several cities, including Kodungaiyur, Tambaram, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem and Tirunelveli, despite concerns over air and water pollution and hazardous waste generated by such facilities.
According to the CFA report, titled ‘100/100 Pollution Score’, waste to energy plants scored 100 on the cumulative Pollution Index. It compared this with open cast coal mining, copper smelting and thermal power plants, which scored 97.5, 90 and 85 respectively.
Poovulagin Nanbargal questioned why these plants, which reportedly have a higher pollution score, had been moved from the red category to the blue category. The organisation cited the closure of the Manali waste incinerator after cadmium levels were found to be up to 24 times higher than the permissible limit. “The Kodungaiyur facility was also shut after it was revealed that 45 of the 48 pollutants that required mandatory monitoring were not being monitored,” it said.
The organisation further opposed the proposed plants in Tirunelveli and Salem. The State government has announced a Rs 256-crore plant with a 9-MW capacity in Tirunelveli and a Rs 291-crore plant with a 10-MW capacity in Salem.