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Singrauli, India
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Description
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Site Description
Ever since 1840, when coal was discovered in Singrauli, the area's development has revolved around exploiting this natural resource. Today, there are eleven coal mines and six thermal power plants in the region, which straddles the border between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, earning Singrauli its nickname as India’s “Energy Capital”.
This economic development has not come without a price. Hundreds of thousands of people have been relocated from their homes to make way for the building of a reservoir, mines and power plants. Environmental problems are also rife in the region, including contamination of the groundwater and the man-made Rihand reservoir, and higher than normal levels of mercury, flourine, chromium and other trace metals in the soil and vegetation. According to ToxicLinks.org, Singrauli presently accounts for 10% of total Indian and 0.3% of global carbon dioxide emission, a major reason for global warming.
A widely-cited but unpublished study by Electricité de France reveals that Singrauli's thermal power plants release about 720 kg of mercury per year. The UN cited an Indian Central Pollution Control board estimate that "17 per cent of power plant mercury emissions are from the Singrauli region." A United Nations Environment Programme report stated that mercury levels in the blood and hair of tested Singrauli residents were higher than normal. Exposure to sufficiently high levels of mercury can cause permanent damage to the nervous system and brain, kidneys and developing fetus.
Fly ash, the byproduct of coal combustion, is also a significant problem. The coal-burning power plants release about six million tons of fly ash a year, making land unfit for cultivation. In parts of Singrauli, the fly ash lies in piles five feet thick. It consists of fine particles (including calcium, sulphate, silicon and magnesium), along with toxic trace elements such as mercury, lead, arsenic, selenium, and cadmium. These heavy metals can leach into ground water and soil, cause acid rain, and affect human health through inhalation. The health effects range from permanent respiratory disorders, aggravation of ailments like asthma, bronchitis, and even lung cancer due to prolonged inhalation of fly ash. Silica in fly ash can cause Silicosis.
The Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests has identified Singrauli as an "Identified Problem Area" and has begun implementing an action plan, including air pollution monitoring.
In 1997, Singrauli villagers filed a complaint to the World Bank, claiming that the bank's projects to fund construction of power plants in the area were not following the bank's own rigourous environmental and social requirements.
