Provide temporary connections within 24 hrs: EPCA to discoms

An apex court-mandated authority today directed the discoms in the city to provide temporary power connections within 24 hours of receiving applications in view of a region-wide ban on the use of diesel generator sets.

The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) issued the direction to tackle the large number of requests for exemptions from the ban, including from diplomatic missions in the national capital.

The EPCA, which has enforced the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in Delhi-NCR to tackle air pollution, including the ban on DG sets, also pitched for a reduction in the refundable deposits required in such applications.
 

The Delhi Power Department informed EPCA chairman Bhure Lal during a meeting here that it was preparing a "separate protocol" for temporary connections to events such as marriages, religious gatherings as until now, demands for such connections used to come only from people undertaking construction work.

An executive of the BSES, the largest discom in the city, said they are prepared to provide temporary connections of up to 50 kilowatt capacity within 24 hours, however, requests seeking higher capacity would require time.

"Till the end of November, we would like the discoms to provide temporary connections within 24 hours and treat every such applications as emergency, with a cap on the load," EPCA member Sunita Narain said.

The EPCA also directed the Delhi government's Environment Department to prepare a chart listing the name of the individuals or establishments who have sought exemptions with a separate column stating the reason behind such requests as the city is power surplus.

A source familiar with the issue said diplomatic missions have approached the government for exemptions as a sudden blackout in the absence of a backup which DG sets provide may trigger security complications.

But the authorities concerned have decided not to offer any relaxation, saying inverters can also act as backups.

Earlier, the discoms were also asked to submit daily reports on outages as the EPCA wondered what could be the reason behind so many requests for exemptions despite the city being power surplus.