Many Ggn residents still depend on diesel gensets

Gurugram: The cost of rapid and unplanned growth of residential townships is being paid by Gurugram's residents, with debt-ridden builders failing to apply for power supply licences. As a result, nearly 12,000 families are forced to depend on diesel generator sets for their power supply.

Most of the builders began their projects in 2005-2006, when real estate business in Gurugram was booming.

The financial crisis of 2008 and the slowdown in property market in Delhi-NCR thereafter resulted in builders not applying for licence for power and even water connection to save costs.

In the 400 residential societies currently located in Gurugram, around 100-120 of the condominiums areas are not being provided the power supply by the state government. This has forced thousands of citizens to unwillingly draw power from diesel generators.

For a city that has surpassed the pollution levels of Delhi on most counts, reliance on diesel generators is doing no good to improve the city's air.

On an average, 1,500 litres of diesel is used on a daily basis by the condominiums. The lack of proper power supply is especially felt in residential societies located in the areas from Sector-58 to Sector-115.

In order to curb spiraling levels of air pollution in the city, there were plans to phase out diesel generators running on diesel and replace them with CNG-run gensets.

The move will be adopted under graded actions system by the Envirornment Pollution Prevention abd Control Authority.

Information revealed by a RTI petition had recently stated that there are over 10,000 diesel generators operating in the city.

In addition to a large number of households, many industrial units also rely on diesel run generators, on account of the erratic power supply.

Besides adversely impacting the environment, the use of generators is also loosening the purse strings of homebuyers, who are still reeling under the pressure of paying their equated monthly installments.

While the cost of power supply ranged from Rs 7 to Rs 8 per unit, service providers of diesel generators are charging their customers exobitant rates, ranging from Rs 11 to 15 per unit.

The issue is not a new phenomenon in Gurugram and many aggrieved residents have often complained about their problems on the government platforms.

Despite repeated pleas, many of the homebuyers allege that the state government along withthe public agencies take the matter lightly.