All thre cities in India are grappling with humoungous pollution laden by dust particles suspended in the air, PM-2.5, PM-10, SoX, NoX, Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Di-oxide.
The coastal cities which were known to be clean because sea breeze usedf to wash away the pollution too are now grappling with unabetted pollution. One cannot argue that the pollution due to stubble burning in Punjab, the pollution is travelling to other parts of the Country
In case of Delhi, it is very often blamed that the pollution is due to stubble burning in Punjab and Media too blames the farmers, without even understanding the basics – wind direction and poor wind speed. THe wind direction changes after every two to three hours. Further, due to por windspeed, pollution from Punjab cannot travel to Delhi in opposite wind direction without polluting the cities enroute.
I am attaching the relevant extracts from National Electricity Policy Generation 2018, which has following lists
- LIST OF PROJECTS CONSIDERED FOR RETIREMENT AS PER NEW ENVIRONMENTAL NORMS (Thermal station units without space for FGD installation and shall attain age of =>25 years on 1/1/2022
- LIST OF PROJECTS CONSIDERED FOR RETIREMENT BY MARCH, 2022 As on August,2017
- LIST OF PROJECTS CONSIDERED FOR RETIREMENT DURING 2022-27 (Thermal station units which shall attain age of =>25 years on 1/1/2022) (as on August,2017.
As per news appeared in News Paper source PTI 8th August 2023 – that Govt, in response to question in parliament stated that it has no plan to decommision thermal power projects, the relevant text as per PTI is reproduced as under
“The government on Tuesday said it has not formulated any plan to phase out old coal-based thermal power plants in the country. India has set an ambitious energy transition programme, which includes having 500 GW of renewable energy capacity, by 2030. "No Sir, Central Electricity Authority vide an advisory dated January 20, 2023 suggested that no retirement or repurposing of coal-based power stations will be done before 2030 considering the expected energy demand scenario and availability of capacity in future," Power Minister R K Singh said in a written replyHe was replying to a question on whether the government has formulated any plan to phase out the old coal-based thermal power plants in the country, including in Odisha.
Singh said that operators of thermal power plants were also advised implementation of Renovations & Modernization (R&M) and Life Extension (LE) of their units for running up to 2030 and beyond or operating in two-shift mode to facilitate olar and wind energy integration into the grid, wherever feasible.
Power generation is a delicensed activity as per Section 7 of the Electricity Act, 2003 and phasing out/retirement of units is decided by power generating companies based on their own techno-economic and environmental reasons, the minister explained.
It is therefore, clear that the citizens cannot expect any relief from Pollution till the polluting thermal power plants continue to spew unabetted pollution of all kind