Three workers were injured in an accident last night at Tiroda (Maharashtra) thermal power project of

the country's largest private player in the sector, Adani Power.

According to sources, there was a blast at the site last night but power generation at the plant has not

been affected.

The total capacity of the Tiroda thermal power plant is 3,300 MW of which one 660 MW unit is yet to be

commissioned.

"Three injured workers, who were taken to the hospital in Nagpur, are recuperating and will be

discharged soon," sources said, adding that there is minimal financial impact of the incident on the

company.

When contacted, Adani Power declined comment.

All units at the Tiroda plant are of supercritical technology, driving efficiency in coal-based power

generation.

Earlier this month, the company had briefly stopped generation from this project over non-payment of

dues by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company, sources said.

Adani Power, which generates 8,580 MW, plans to take its power production capacity to 20,000 MW by

2020.

The company is also developing 4,620 MW thermal power plant at Mundra in Gujarat, 1,320 MW at

Kowai in Rajasthan.

In the third such incident since July this year, a major fire broke out on the premises of the Tuticorin Thermal Power Station (TTPS) on Monday.

The fire was noticed in coal secondary crusher – I around 11 a.m. It spread to a conveyor belt under the influence of heavy wind, P. Ardhanari, Chief Engineer, TTPS, said. Nobody suffered burns.

The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. An investigation is under way. The flames rose above the coal conveyor belt for more than an hour and fire tenders battled to bring them under control for over two hours.

Thick smoke billowed into the sky and for the fire fighters it was a daunting task.

Mr. Ardhanari said that power generation would not be affected in the wake of the accident. The coal-conveying operations would be continued on an alternative route.

About 400 to 450 metres of conveyor belt were damaged in the accident. It would take four or five days to overhaul the damaged belt to resume normal operations, he said.

Collector Ashish Kumar said that a team had executed fire safety audit recently following a fire accident at the TTPS and suggested measures to avoid such accidents.

Minister for Labour Welfare S.T. Chellapandian had visited the TTPS for an inspection in July after the fire accident occurred in the conveyor belt.

He had urged the authorities to maintain safety arrangements to avert such accidents.

Keywords: Tuticorin Thermal Power Station, fire accident

Fire raging on the conveyor belt at Tuticorin Thermal Power Station

Fire raging on the conveyor belt at Tuticorin Thermal Power Station