EPCA asks Haryana, UP to finalise report on genset ban in four days

NEW DELHI: In a bid to enforce the diesel generator set ban in the satellite towns of Delhi, Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority has directed Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to submit a detailed report on current roadblocks and the timeline to tackle the existing obstacles by October 22.

Power officials from Haryana admitted before the pollution watchdog that there are glaring infrastructure gaps in electricity distribution systems of 57 sectors in New Gurugram (Sector 58-115) as well as 17 colonies developed by private builders—due to which DG set ban cannot be enforced in these areas.

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EPCA members expressed their dismay about procedural gaps due to which occupancy certificates were given to these households without an official source of power supply. A deadline of 6 months has been given to Haryana to fill the infrastructure gaps and “sort out the issues with private developers” so that the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) can be completely enforced in these areas during next winter.

Under the GRAP, EPCA has banned the use of diesel generators in Delhi and NCR cities of Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad, Sonipat, Panipat and Bahadurgarh from Tuesday, but the neighbouring states have been demanding exemption.

Sunita Narain, member, EPCA said that Haryana has also assured that it has instituted a process so that no new Occupancy Cenrtificate is issued without an official power connection.

An official informed that there are 5,540 DG sets operational in Gurugram which have 100kVA or more capacity, 1,833 in Faridabad, 753 in Sonipat, 74 in Panipat and 17 in Bahadurgarh. “Eighty per cent of these DG sets are for industrial use and only used as back-up,” Haryana power secretary said.

EPCA, while allowing the use of diesel gensets as back-up, ordered Haryana to issue notices to all the industries that diesel gensets could only be used during the outage.

Realising that 2019 deadline for upgrading power plants in Jhajjar and Panipat will be missed, EPCA directed Haryana to expedite the work by 2020, otherwise they will need to be shut during winters on lines of Delhi’s Badarpur plant.

Haryana power secretary said that one plant in Jhajjar is already compliant to the new norms and tenders for work on Jhajjar-NTPC plant have been issued. “Old 220MW unit of Panipat Plant will be shut down by October 31. Four units of Jhajjar plant have already been shut down. For remaining three units in Panipat facility, we will be able to employ dry-solvent units in next six months,” the official added.

EPCA chairman Bhure Lal said that industries using biomass and coal for processing and manufacturing should be identified.

UP officials sought more time to assess the situation.