Overuse of diesel gensets leaving Ggn in dire straits
GURUGRAM: A long-standing fear among the residents of Gurugram has been proven to be true by the Centre for Science and Enviornment (CSE), which stated that pollution in the city has risen by 30 per cent.
According to estimates, over 50,000 litre of diesel is burnt every day in Gurugram by diesel generators sets.
In a city where many parts are still reeling under three-six hour long power cuts, residents depend on diesel gensets for their power needs.
The cost of rapid and unplanned growth of residential townships is being felt by the residents, as most debtridden builders have failed to apply for power supply licence. As a result, 12,000 families have installed diesel gensets for their power supply.
Several builders began construction of their projects in 2005-2006, when the real estate business in the city was booming. However, the financial crisis of 2008 and the slowdown in property market in the National Capital Region resulted in builders not applying for licences for power or water connection to save costs.
In the more than 400 residential societies present in Gurugram, around 120 are said to be not be getting power sup- ply from the state government.
This has resulted in thousands of citizens depending on diesel genesets to draw power.
For a city that has surpassed the pollution levels of Delhi on most counts, reliance on diesel generators is doing no good to improve the city’s air.
The lack of proper power supply is felt most harshly in residential societies located between Sectors 58 to 115.
In order to curb spiralling levels of air pollution in Gurugram, there were plans to phase out diesel gensets and replace them with Cng-run gensets.
The move will be adopted under the graded action system by the Environment Pollution Prevention and Control authority (EPCA).
Information from a recent RTI application revealed that there are over 10,000 diesel gensets are operational in Gurugram.
Besides a large number of households, many industrial units also use diesel gensets.
In addition to affecting the environment, the use of the generators is also loosening the purse strings of the homebuyers in Gurugram, who are still reeling under the pressure of paying off their homes.
While the cost of power supplied ranged from Rs 7 to 8 per unit, service providers of diesel gensets are charging their customers an exorbitant sums of Rs 11 to Rs 15 per unit.