ROPAR: The Ropar Thermal Plant is virtually sitting on keg of gun powder as any major mishap  can happen due to frequent burning of cables in the thermal units.

The unit no. 5 became the first casualty of burning of cables when it tripped three days ago. Due to burning of more than 60 to 70 cables at three different places the unit tripped and the unit was revived Monday morning after doing the patch work.

According to a senior plant official the continuous emission of coal dust from coal mills and resultant accumulation of coal dust on steam pipes and cables due to poor maintenance of coal mills is the only cause of fire. The accumulated coal dust on steam pipes coupled with steam leakage heats up the ash and falling red hot ash on cable racks below causes smoldering in cables resulting in fire incidences.

According to sources the joints have been provided in burnt out cables as a stop gap arrangement to restart the unit at the earliest. .According to RTP employees union press note the cables worth 20 lakhs has been damaged in the particular fire incidence besides generation loss of crores.
According to sources the poor maintenance and performance of coal mills is the root cause and this may lead to some major fire incidence in thermal units. The sources pointed out that even after the annual maintenance of unit no. 2 this month the problem of ash leakages from coal mills has not stopped. The position of other thermal units is still worse.

The contractor doing the maintenance of coal mills was given extra payment of 20 lakhs over and above the job order to improve the performance of coal mills but no improvement has been noticed. A senior official on condition of anonymity said that the contractor had alleged that an official was asking for a ten percent cut from the bills. 

The oil consumption in plant has increased due to coal mills problems. The oil consumption which was 0-61 ml/unit has more than doubled. This month oil consumption is 1.33 ml / unit due to coal mill problems. Earlier coal reject was a major problem but this problem has been solved to a certain extent only.

The emission of continuous emission of coal dust is a working hazard and health hazard. Any accident can happen due to coal dust RTP employees union has demanded that leakage of coal and dust from unit 5 and 6 must be stopped to avoid a major mishap.