Taking a serious view of the closure of Badarpur Thermal Power Station, D K Sood, Regional Executive Director of DBF (Dadri, Badarpur and Faridabad), NTPC Limited, said that though it is the government's prerogative to close any power station, the Badarpur thermal plant cannot be permanently closed in the name of polluting units, because most units are within the prescribed standards of particulate matter 50 mg/Nm3 (milligrams per cubic metre). Sood was interacting with mediapersons at the Noida office on Friday.
Since November 30, on the requests of the Environment Pollution Control Authority and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, the Delhi government had decided to indefinitely extend the closure of the Badarpur Thermal Power Station.
Earlier, the government had issued directions for the closure of all units of the power station till January 31, 2017, under Section 31A of Air Pollution (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981. Sood explained that there are five units, comprising three units of 95 MW each and two units of 210 MW at Badarpur station. The three 95 MW units, which did not meet the stringent standards of 50 mg/Nm3, were not allowed to operate and ordered to shut down. "Whenever the city is facing a power crisis, the government will allow the operation of the power station," Sood further said.