Gurugram, Oct 15 (SocialNews.XYZ) Under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), the pollution regulatory authority has banned the use of diesel generators in the National Capital Region from Thursday.
However, the use of generators for emergency and essential services, such as hospitals, railway and metro stations, is excluded from the ban.
As per the pollution department in Gurugram, there are around 10,000 generators operational in the city, both in the residential and industrial areas.
In Gurugram, there are around 67 societies and condominiums, housing at least 2 lakh residents, which are either partially or heavily dependent on gensets. Though residents have been living there for several years now, builders have either not paid their dues or fulfilled other norms for getting permanent connections, resulting in heavy reliance on power backup. Five of these societies run 100 per cent on generators.
"We also have essential services such as elevators. Then there are children and senior citizens, many of the senior citizens are suffering from serious ailments. For such patients, medicines need to be stored at a certain temperature. All these things are dependent on continuous power supply," said Anand Saha, a senior citizen in Gurugram.
However, the discom officials said they have surplus power -- 12,500 MW against the base peak demand of 11,000 MW -- and can supply electricity to these societies and colonies which are currently dependent on diesel generators.
They said in Gurugram there are 5,540 diesel generators of more than 100-kilowatt capacity.
"Generators are required everyday to provide power connectivity when the power supply is not there. How will basic essential services like lifts work if there is a complete ban on gensets," said Rohit Arya, another Gurugram resident, adding that this will also create problems for senior citizens who are anable to use the stairs every time.
Neha Rana, who is a resident of new Gurugram, also voiced concern and said, "Frequent power cuts will disrupt office work and will be difficult for those who work from home. The state government should provide appropriate infrastructure to deal with this problem," she said.
Industry associations based in Manesar and Udyog Vihar said the ban would impact production.
"The factories and multiple export units, which work continuously and need uninterrupted power supply, would now face a lot of problems due to the issue. Covid-19 has already hit our production this will further lead to huge losses," said Manmohan Gaind, general secretary, Manesar Industries Welfare Association.
"The state government must think about the industries' problems as the genset ban will surely impact industries. We are using gensets due to power cuts. The government must resolve this problem and take necessary steps for 24-hour power supply," said Ashok Kohli, president of the Chamber of Industries Udyog Vihar.
"A majority of upscale societies had rural area connections. Without power backup how will we run lifts, water supply, sewage treatment plant. Lack of power supply will make life even more difficult," said Bhishm Sharma, president, Imperial Garden sector-102 Residents Welfare Association.
Source: IANS
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