Gurgaon: The Haryana power department has sought at least six months to implement a directive by the EPCA asking for a ban on diesel gensets. The power department has written to EPCA chief Bhure Lal, saying there were several projects that still lacked proper power infrastructure and doing away with gensets would inconvenience residents.
A letter by the superintendent (power) said infrastructure needed to be strengthened in the city before banning gensets, which are useful for providing backup in highrise societies. “It is submitted that implementation of the directions as provided in the notification (by EPCA) would have a scaling and massive impact on supply of power to lakhs of consumers, across the areas (Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat, Panipat and Bahadurgarh).., without there being any backup option for alternate supply, if the said ban is imposed,” it says.
EPCA has directed a ban on diesel gensets across Delhi-NCR from October 15. The ban will continue till March 15, 2020. The letter also highlighted two main reasons why the ban would come in the way of residents getting uninterrupted power supply — inadequate electrical infrastructure and distribution and transmission constraints. “Distribution licensees don’t have adequate infrastructure/capacity in some areas like Sector 58 and beyond in Gurgaon, and sector 75 and beyond in Faridabad… In some areas, where demand crosses sanctioned load, DG sets are used to make up for the shortfall; the distribution licensee as well as transmission licensee are in process of strengthening, upgrading and/or installing such distribution network; several builders have completed construction of their projects, but have failed to install the required electrical infrastructure for supply of electricity; and without adequate electrical infrastructure, it is technically not possible for distribution licensee of Haryana to give regular electrical connection 24×7,” the letter says.
Citing the example of Gurgaon, discom officials said there were several societies where electric connections could not be provided because of lack of infrastructure on the part of the builder.
“In Sector 1 to 57, electrical connections couldn’t be released on account of inadequacies on the part of builders,” the letter says. The officials said, “It is impossible to implement such directions on short notice of 4 days. We seek relaxation for a period of 6 months. It is requested that Haryana Power Utilities be given reasonable time to provide connections to the user who are dependent on generators.”
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes
