Fire at power plant in Maha; none hurt

A major fire broke out at the Khaparkheda Thermal Power Station (KTPS), operated by state-run utility Mahagenco, near in Nagpur in Maharashtra on Wednesday afternoon, affecting electricity generation, but no casualty was reported, an official said.

As the conveyor belt supplying coal was damaged in the blaze, four power generation plants with total capacity of 210 MW will be closed by Mahagenco (Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Ltd), one by one, said Raju Ghuge, chief engineer at KTPS.

The Mahagenco official said the fire broke out at around 3.25 pm at the conveyor belt of a coal handling facility.

Due to the massive fire, the conveyor belt was badly damaged as thick smoke enveloped the premises, he said.

Employees working in the plant quickly moved out and officials alerted the fire department, Ghuge said.

Fire tenders from the Koradi Thermal Power Station and other places rushed to the spot and firefighters managed to douse the flames within an hour, the official said.

There was no report of any casualty, he said, adding the cause of the fire was not yet known.

Another official of Mahagenco said an inspection of the conveyor belt is being carried out to ascertain the damage caused to the coal handling facility.

After the inspection, repair work will start, he said.