Haryana urges exemption for areas dependent on gen-sets from ban, EPCA says enough time given

The Haryana government has requested a Supreme Court-appointed green panel to exempt colonies dependent of gen-sets for electricity from stricter anti-pollution measures, but the committee said enough time was given to ensure regular power supply to the areas.

The request came as the Graded Response Action Plan to curb air pollution kicked in.

Under GRAP, the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority has banned use of diesel gen-sets in Delhi and NCR cities of Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad, Sonepat, Panipat and Bahadurgarh from Tuesday.

Only gen-sets used for emergency and essential services, such as hospitals, railway and metro stations, would be excluded from the ban.

Until last year, the ban on gen-sets covered only the national capital.

So the Haryana government has requested EPCA to exempt colonies/societies in the state developed by builders, "which are at the moment supplying electricity through generator sets alone, pending resolution of infrastructure inadequacies".

In a letter to EPCA chairman Bhure Lal, Haryana's power department said the ban would have a "scaling and massive impact" on consumers without there being any alternative.

"It is requested that Haryana power utilities be given reasonable time to provide connections to the users who are dependent on generators. Since Haryana has adequate power availability, this work will be taken up on priority and we will ensure that the problem of generator-based power supply is stopped forever," the letter reads.

But EPCA said it has come to know that a large number of residential colonies and commercial establishments in NCR were given occupancy certificates without connecting them to regular power supply. It said it has given enough time to authorities to provide regular power supply to such areas.

"This is a very strange situation in which the state governments are claiming that they have surplus power but the sectors and other establishments are not connected to regular power supply," Bhure Lal said.

EPCA will convene a meeting of officials from NCR states on October 18 to discuss the matter, he said.