Eco-fragile zone

Power plant zaps eco-fragile zone

TROUBLED WATERS: The plant is allegedly increasing water temperature.

Lush green forests and fishermen out at work. It's to preserve this idyllic picture that the Ministry of Environment forests declared the Dahanu region, which is situated 125 km north of Mumbai, an eco-fragile zone in 1991.

But not everything is picture perfect in Dahanu. A CNN-IBN investigation has found that the Reliance Energy-owned Dahanu Thermal Power station is violating thermal emission norms.

Fishermen allege that the 500-MW thermal plant is ruining their lives. "Boiler water woh samudar mein phek rahein hain, aur ash ka pani bhi paani chod diya hai. (They are releasing boiler water and even flyash into the sea)," said fisherman Praveen Chamre.

"Isse sara chota chota machi mar raha hai (This is killing all the small fish)," he alleged.

However, when a Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) team visited the site, it found only a 5-degree Celsius difference--just within permissible limits.

Unconvinced by the MPCB's findings, the CNN-IBN team joined a group of environmentalists and took independent readings. As soon as the thermometer was put in the water, the mercury shot up.

"The water temperature here is 37 degree Celsius," said environmental activist Hemant Babu.

The temperature was two degrees above the maximum permissible limit agreed upon in the consent form, which allows Reliance to operate in this region.

The MPCB claimed that the limit has been relaxed to 10 degrees Celsius, but experts said that even a slight change in temperature is fatal for marine ecology.

"Even a change of two degrees in temperature can have a severe effect, 10 degrees is like pouring hot water," said Dr Rashneh Pardiwala, director of the Centre for Environment Research and Education.

The violation has angered C.S. Dharmadhikari, the chairperson of the Dahanu Taulka Environment Protection Authority (DTEPA). Dharmadhikari said he was never informed of any relaxation and has threatened drastic action.

"If we find that there is a violation, we can even shut the plant down," said Dharmadhikari. This could mean a blackout in Mumbai simply because Reliance Energy is not obeying the rules.

But the worst sufferers are the fisher-folk of Dahanu. With the fish gone, the community now collects bits of coal that falls from barges.