A year to prepare, but NCR cities fail to stop power cuts, genset use

The power discoms‘ ability to provide uninterrupted electricity in Haryana and UP will be tested once again as the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority on Thursday directed Delhi and the NCR cities to implement measures under the Graded Action Response Plan (GRAP) from October 15.

This will mean a ban on the use of diesel gensets, which the NCR cities are still heavily reliant on, unless the premises using the gensets are an ‘emergency’ service or in the ‘exclusion’ list, which will be drawn up over the next few days. In Gurugram, most housing societies, office and commercial complexes and factories use industrial scale gensets because of regular power cuts. In parts of new Gurugram, where power lines are yet to reach some of the new societies, diesel gensets power all houses.

In the UP areas of NCR, Noida and Ghaziabad also see regular power outage and diesel gensets are installed in most housing complexes, business and commercial premises, schools, offices and industrial units. The EPCA had banned use of diesel gensets in the NCR cities while GRAP was in place last year, too, leading to concerns among residents about power outages as some societies put restrictions on elevator use.

A year on, neither the Haryana nor the UP power departments has been able to ensure uninterrupted power supply. The same concerns will return this year, depending on what makes it to the ‘exclusion’ list.

EPCA chairman Bhure lal said use of diesel gensets will be banned (other than essential/emergency services) in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida. “In 2019, UP and Haryana had informed EPCA that they will put in the required measures by winter 2020 so that electricity can be supplied from the grid to these areas without disruption, which would obviate the need of diesel gensets. EPCA will issue a guidance list of the exclusion and emergency services that were permitted last winter for Delhi-NCR and all state governments to adopt,” he said.

In Gurugram, the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has not yet connected several areas with a permanent electricity connection even though they have raised several requests since the past year. Over 3,000 gensets are operational in the city and are a major source of air pollution. According to a senior official in DHBVN, diesel gensets run an average three hours every day in the city. “Around 200 litres of diesel is burnt every day in Gurugram for gensets. We are working to provide a permanent connection by December 2020 but due to the pandemic most of the work has been delayed,” said a DHBVN official.

S Narayan, member secretary of Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), said the EPCA also discussed how these states can maintain better air quality after the GRAP period. “EPCA and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) will decide on a protocol to curb air pollution after winter and share it with the states by Friday,” he said, adding Delhi and the NCR cities were asked to follow regulation of parking spaces and also to install anti-smog guns at construction sites.

There are over 900 big construction sites in Gurugram and according to the pollution board, 72 do not have anti-smog guns. Shakti Singh, HSPCB regional officer of Gurugram, said, “It was decided that anti-smog guns must be made compulsory for construction projects in Delhi-NCR that require environmental clearance from states or the Centre.”

Noida DM Suhas LY said the EPCA order will be implemented in line with directives from the state government. “We will honour the order of EPCA as adopted by the state. We are trying every means to provide round-the-clock electricity,” he said.

The Indian Industries Association (IIA) said it had demanding non-stop electricity to sop genset use altogether. “We welcome the EPCA directive and now it is up to the state government to ensure power supply,” Kulmani Gupta, president of IIA (Noida), said.