With 10 power plants and 16 coal mines, the Singrauli-Sonbhadra region in central India is called the country’s energy capital. But the journey of coal from the power plant to the human body leaves a path ridden with disease in its wake. Below is a photo essay from the film ‘The Coal Within.’ It lays bare the impact our need for energy and the pollution it generates, has had on the families who live next to coal plants.
“See, I got blood cancer right from the time the plant started coming up. By the time it had been built, my kidney problems had also begun.
I spend Rs 9000 for 30 tablets from PGI every month.”
— Rajkmar Devi, 50, Anapara town, bordering Anpara Thermal Power plant.
The day starts for the government school beside her house with a thorough sweep and sprinkle, but the black soot remains settled deep within the cracks of the floors. In summer, the coal-dust storms often turn day into night, even as the teachers and children tie their scarves tightly around their faces while singing the National Anthem.
A study in 2012, conducted by Delhi-based non-profit organisation Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), confirmed that Fluoride, Mercury and Arsenic were all higher than the permissible limits in most water, soil and fish samples tested. It also revealed that over 84% of the blood samples of the local population contained mercury above the safe level. Environmentalists warn, mental retardation among the people will only spread over time.
“Look what my hands have become! When I come home after driving,
I wash my hands repeatedly but within minutes, they’re the same. All of us who work in the mines cough constantly. When the phlegm comes out, it’s black in colour. Coal kills one’s appetite. Whatever I’m earning goes into medicines anyway. My future? Whatever I do in these 2, 4 or maximum 5 years, I’ll do, and then my story is over. When my body stops delivering, no company will keep us.”
— Vimlesh Sawhney, 40, open-cast mine driver, working for the last 15 years with a contractor of Northern Coal Limited Coal Mines.
“We are realising that this is all happening due to water - it is the fluoride that is polluting us. They tell us not to drink from the well, not to drink from the hand pump. So where should we drink water from? My whole family, our two kids have become handicapped. We have become disabled, both my wife and I, and our spines have bent. Our bodies have no life, no strength, no power at all.”
— Laleram Yadav, Gariah, 10 kms away from Anpara Thermal Power Plant.
Ashslurry from the Belvadah Ash pond, disposed of by NTPC Shaktinagar and Vidhyachal Thermal Power Plants, overflows into Rihand Dam. Even the committee constituted to look into the NGT case, chaired by AB Akolkar, Member Secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), shared its concern over the contamination of the Rihand river - the main water source of the area. Ash pipes of several thermal power plants have leaks, which also adds to the contamination of fields and ground water.
“During our time, there was no illness. In the last 10-15 years, it is everywhere. Those days, the water was not like this. Now, the water itself is the illness! My whole body has got jammed like iron. Only my hands move a little. Whatever little moves, I move. I eat, I shit, everything I do is on this cot only. How long can I live like this? ”
— Vindhyachal, 70-year-old patient
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