A major fire that broke out at the Tuticorin Thermal Power Station (TTPS), a unit of Tamilnadu Generation and Distribution corporation (TANGEDCO) Ltd, damaged plant machinery worth several crores, on Monday morning.
Coal is being transported from the coal jetty of the VOC Port to Unit II and III of the 5X 210 MW power plant daily through conveyor belts.
While the exact reason for the mishap is yet to be known, the power plant authorities claimed that friction between the high calorific coal would have caused the fire. Fortunately, there were no casualties.
According to TTPS sources, the fire was noticed around 11 am on the 800 metre conveyor belt.
It spread to the powdered imported coal, stocked in the old crusher unit, besides damaging High Tension (HT) motors, power cables and other machineries worth several crores.
However, the fire was brought under control in the afternoon, with firemen waging a long battle with whatever fire fighting systems available within the plant and fire tenders from neighbouring Thermal Nagar and adjacent areas. Though the fire was doused, thick plumes of smoke continued to emanate from the plant for a long time.
Plant officials claimed that coal supply remained unaffected from the two coal jetties of VOC Port and the plant neither suffered any production loss.
Enough Stock
for 10 days
According to them, the plant’s coal yard has sufficient coal stock for 10 days. Monday’s fire accident has raised many eyebrows as it is the third one in two months. Monday’s incident was the major fire accident so far in the history of the 33-year-old power plant, said an employee.
Fire broke out on conveyor belts on July 2 and July 16 this year.
It may be noted that ST Chellapandian, Minister for Labour Welfare, had visited the Tuticorin Thermal Power Station (TTPS) on July 25 and reviewed the safety measures in the plant.
He instructed officials to take necessary precautionary measures to avoid such accidents in future.
TTPS Chief Engineer P Ardhanari said that reason for the fire is yet to be analysed and is under investigation.
“As of now, prime importance is given to the restoration of the affected unit. Work is on at full swing and things would be restored in four or five days.
The functioning of the plant is normal and the incident will not affect the power generation or supply of the coal to the power plant,” he added.
`100-crore damage
The damage caused by a major fire that broke out at the Tuticorin Thermal Power Station could run to `100 crore, according to sources.
Negligence of
officials blamed
Informed sources attribute the reasons for the fire on Monday as negligence of officials. The conveyor belt meant for carrying indigenous coal is used to transport imported coal of high calorific value.
It is said that welding works, carried out on the crusher screen without adopting any safety measures, could have caused the fire at the Power Station.
The 33-year-old Thermal Power Station, which has a meritorious track record, has of late, been beset by fire accidents and breakdowns very often. Water scarcity in the power plant and usage of inferior quality spares and optimisation of power generation to cope with the prevailing power crisis without any safety measures often results in frequent break downs and fire accidents, sources added.
TTPS has received many cash awards along with shields, medals and certificates from the government of India for higher productivity, reduction in auxiliary consumption, reduction in fuel oil consumption, when the cash incentive reward scheme by the Government of India was in force.
TTPS is located near the VOC Port in Thoothukudi and is spread over a sprawling 160-hectare stretch.
It has a total installed capacity of 1050 MW, comprising 5 units of 210 MW each.
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