Blanket ban on use of gensets in NCR has bizmen worried

Mukesh Tandon

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Panipat, August 9

Blanket ban on use of diesel generators (DG) sets from October 1 in the NCR region by the Commission of Air Quality Management (CAQM) has raised the tensions of industrialists in Panipat, Sonepat and other NCR districts.

Various industrialists associations in Panipat and Sonepat have raised the issue at several platforms and demanded relaxation for the use of gensets in emergency situations only. The industrialists said they had no alternative arrangements to back-up their units if the power supply was disrupted.

Notably, the CAQM in its directions on June 2 imposed complete ban on the use of DG sets based on diesel fuel in the NCR region to maintain better air quality.

Vinod Dhamija, chairman, Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Panipat chapter, said these directions had created tension among the industrialists. There were so many fluctuations in power supply in the state, especially in the industrial areas, during the peak hours. The textile industry is a process-based industry, if any breakdown occured during the process, the industry had to bear a huge loss, he said. Moreover, the industrialists use gensets only in dire situations, he added.

Pritam Singh Sachdeva, president, Panipat Industrial Association, said thousands of trucks having BS-4 engines were roaming on roads freely, but the CAQM had ordered blanket ban on the use of DG sets. As many as 10,000 to 12,000 DG sets are here, but these were used only in emergency situations. On an average, the industry used DG sets for 100-110 hours in a year as its use was not economically viable to the industry, he said.

The electricity provided by the government is only Rs 8.10 per unit but it costs around Rs 32 per unit on using gensets, he said. The industrialists are demanding relaxation for the use of gensets during emergency situations, he said.

A state-level meeting of all industrial associations of the NCR region was scheduled for August 9 in Kundli under the banner of the Confederation of Haryana Industrial Associations to demand lifting ban on the use of DG sets until uninterrupted power was supplied 24X7, Gupta added.

The delegations of nearly 35 industrial associations from Manesar, Rewari, Gurugram, Faridabad, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Bahadurgarh, Panipat and Sonepat have given their consent to attend the meeting, Gupta said.