Chandigarh, Feb 3 (PTI) In a step aimed at reducing pollution and saving farm topsoil, power minister Harbhajan Singh on Friday directed officials of state-owned power utility Punjab State Power Corporation Limited to immediately provide fly ash of thermal plants for ongoing road projects.

While presiding over a meeting of PSPCL and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials, the minister said that about 400 lakh tonnes of fly ash are lying in the thermal plants of the state and its timely disposal will give relief from pollution, besides shunning the trend of digging topsoil from the nearby fields for road projects.

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He said NHAI requires 950 lakh cubic tonnes of fly ash. At present about 200 lakh tonnes of fly ash is available at Guru Nanak Thermal Plant Bathinda, 90 lakh tonnes at Ropar Thermal Plant, 70 lakh tonnes at Lehra Mohabbat Thermal Plant, 33 lakh tonnes at Talwandi Sabo Thermal Plant and 20 lakhs tonnes of fly ash is available at Rajpura Thermal Plant.

According to an official statement, Singh directed the PSPCL officials to immediately accord approvals to NHAI in this regard so that disposal of fly ash and completion of road projects could be ensured.

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Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led state government is committed to complete the road projects at the earliest and it will not allow the work to disrupt due to non supply of fly ash, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)