The Real Cost of Power - Bank Information Center

endangering all marine life. Both chemical and biological oxygen demand (COD/BOD) figures have increased sharply,
indicating significant levels of pollutants. This also indicates increased stress on marine life – fish and their food chain/
system being of primary concern here – dependent on the available oxygen in the water.
It needs to be understood that due to the largely-enclosed geography of the Gulf of Kutch, pollutants cannot spread out
freely onto the open sea, and tend to get concentrated. This will magnify the adverse impact on marine life in the region.
The boats used by the local fisher people are also small, thus preventing them from venturing out to the open sea –
which they have no experience of, or had no need for – as the interior of the Gulf was a plentiful source of fish until
recently. The centuries-old balanced existence is now changing for the worse, negatively impacting fisher-people who are
themselves not responsible for this change.
VII. Ash contamination of drying fish, salt, and green fodder – Another major area of concern that the locals repeatedly
raised is about dust and ash from coal and fly-ash. The open spaces in and around the bunders are used for drying the
fish for later sale, vertically on bamboo poles for comparatively higher value fish, and on the ground, over spread-out
In the bunder,
drying fish getting contaminated with coal-dust and ash from the power plants. Higher
value fish on poles, lower value fish on sheets on the ground.
poly-sheets, for lower value fish. Due to the dust and ash flying around all over the place, this drying fish is getting
contaminated with possibly toxic coal-dust/fly-ash.
The fact-finding team also observed some of the drying fish getting
darkened by this coal-dust and/or coal-ash. This is likely to cause problems in marketing such contaminated fish, and is
likely to increase with more units coming up soon.