Days after the Delhi government extended the closure of the Badarpur Power Plant, the city's electricity department today said the facility will have to be made functional during the summer months to ensure uninterrupted power supply.
During a meeting of the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) here, Power Secretary Varsha Joshi insisted that the coal-based plant, considered a major source of air pollution in the city, needs to operate till the Tughlaqabad sub-station is commissioned to meet the city's summer demand.
However, EPCA member Sunita Narain, the Director General of CSE, made it clear that the sub-station has to be commissioned within a time-frame and there has to be a permanent closure plan for the NTPC-run Badarpur plant.
Measures taken under the graded response plan's 'severe to very poor category' will remain enforced for the rest of the winter season, EPCA said, adding the Environment Ministry has renotified the plan by mentioning the required interventions under it.
EPCA had rolled out the measures, which included closure of Badarpur plant, blanket ban on garbage burning and firecrackers, in its January 20 meeting after the plan, framed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) was notified by the Centre.
At the meeting, a representative from the NTPC claimed that the authorities of the plant were complying with all the norms and had managed to bind the emission levels within the safe parameters, but it did not satisfy the EPCA.
"The plant will remain closed throughout the rest of the winter season," Narain said.
On January 31, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) had extended the closure of the Badarpur plant till further orders.
The EPCA meeting, presided over by Supreme Court-
empowered body's chairman Bhure Lal, was held to review the status of implementation of the graded response plan where representatives of other neighbouring states-- Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan-- were also present.
EPCA expressed displeasure over the Haryana government's inability to contain the menace of dust in Gurgaon. Narain said the situation has remain unchanged despite the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) being in force since last month.
"The situation is such that clear skies cannot be seen anywhere between Delhi and Alwar. Dust control has to be top agenda of the Haryana government," Bhure Lal said.
Delhi informed EPCA that as per its order to undertake an intense drive against visibly polluting vehicles, around 3,978 were compounded last month while 891 found violating PUC norms were acted against.
The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority directed the states that all brick kilns on their territories will have to adopt zig-zag technology, that helps reduce black carbon emission, by next winter and the non- compliant kilns will have to be shut.
Uttar Pradesh claimed that out 687 brick kilns across Ghaziabad, Hapur and Gautam Budh Nagar districts, only four were operating after the GRAP (measures when air quality is poor) was enforced in NCR.
However, EPCA said the situation will have to be cross- checked as such widespread crackdown would have resulted in a spike in the prices of brick in the region.
