The EPCA today exempted a global food fair, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 3, from a city-wide ban on diesel generator sets, after the Centre pleaded that the mega event may get derailed due to want of power.
The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, which had enforced a ban on DG sets on October 17, granted the exemption to the Ministry of Food Processing Industries after no alternatives of power supply could be found.
The three-day-long event, World Food India, is scheduled to be held on the India Gate lawns between November 3-5. The power demand for the food fair in 30 MW.
The Supreme Court-appointed green panel has been flooded with requests to grant exemptions since the ban came into force under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), its chairman Bhure Lal, a former bureaucrat, said during a meeting here.
The EPCA was, in a way, forced to make an exception after the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), which supplies power in the area of the venue, said it does not have the requisite infrastructure to supply power to the event, as it would require setting up a sub-station and feeder lines.
The Centre deputed the secretary of the Ministry of Food Processing at a meeting of the EPCA, presided over by Lal and member Sunita Narain, here to make its case.
After lengthy deliberations, the EPCA relented and decided to grant a special exemption, while turning down similar requests, including one by the Delhi government to offer a similar breather in view of the Chhath Puja celebrations in ghats across the city.
The food fest, which is likely to be attended by over 30 countries and 26 states, will be the largest gathering of investors, manufacturers, producers, food processors, policy makers, and organisations from the global food ecosystem, says the official website of the event.
Narain expressed concern that any special exemption could lead to added pressure on the EPCA for more such exceptions and stressed that it was a one-time decision due to pressing circumstances.
"Effective action does not come with exemptions," she said, while making clear that no such exception would be granted for the Chhath festivities.
In the meeting, the EPCA also told the Tourism Ministry that it may use DG sets "only as a backup" for its ongoing Paryatan Parv in the same area which will conclude tomorrow, as the NDMC has assured uninterrupted power supply.
The discoms in the city were also asked to submit daily reports on outages as Narain wondered what could be the reason behind so many requests for exemptions when the city was power surplus.
A representative of the BSES, which supplies power to around 70 per cent of the city, said the discoms have existing provisions of providing temporary power connections for small- scale events such as marriages within 24 hours and there was no need for people to use DG sets.
The Power Department said it will soon issue a notice on the same.
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