High power backup costs burn holes in pockets
Powerless over power cuts, NCR faces the heat of outages. As a massive duststorm hit the Capital and NCR last week, authorities are yet to restore power supply in Noida region. Industries, commercial institutions, schools, colleges, government offices and residents of multi-storey buildings are totally dependent on diesel-run power backup as transmission system of the region has completely collapsed. The residents are not only shelling out money to meet their electricity demand but are finding it difficult to live with sound and air pollution caused by generators. Students are also facing problems to cope with their studies due to erratic supply of electricity.
Excessive use of gensets has resulted in massive noise and air pollution across the region. Generator sets have been posing a health hazard. low-height chimneys of these machines emit toxic fumes causing air pollution, those without proper acoustic enclosures result in noise pollution. “As temperature is rising these days, it requires adequate power to every household. Since Power Department has failed to supply adequate power, generators are the only source of power backup these days,” Said NP Singh, president, Federation of Noida Residents Welfare Association (FoNRWA).
Residents claim that uses of diesel-powered backup systems are burning holes in pockets as diesel prices are increasing gradually. “Highrise apartments are paying between `20 and `30 for every unit of power consumed from backup systems. Per unit price for power backup has registered manifold increase in previous years. last year it was `15 per unit only. Power demand of markets, complexes, malls and institution are met by generators as eight to 12 hours of outages are being witnessed in parts of the city,” said Manoj Kumar, president of Gulmohar Market in Sector 15.
The NCR region of Uttar Pradesh is in the vise grip of massive power cuts since rainstorm has crippled power transmission. Although authorities claim otherwise, a majority of the areas are still groping for answers in the dark.