Greater Noida: Industries hit wall on diesel gensets plea, told PNG shift their sole option

GREATER NOIDA: A meeting held on Friday to address the obstacles in shifting to PNG-run generators did not see a breakthrough, with manufacturers and factory owners in Greater Noida saying that the impending ban on diesel gensets (DG sets) will leave them in the lurch.
From October 1, it will be illegal in NCR to use generator sets fuelled by diesel, according to directions of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) ahead of the winter pollution season.
Industry representatives said the meeting with officials from the Noida Power Corporation Ltd (NPCL), Indraprastha Gas Ltd. and the UP Pollution Control Board did not relieve any of their concerns over the cost of shifting to PNG and the lack of gas supply to some areas.
"From October 1, if there is a power outage, our machines will not work. None of the concerned departments have been able to give us any relief. Either we invest Rs 25 lakh in buying new PNG gensets with gas connection or get the conversion done (to PNG from DG sets), which is also not easy... Even if we buy new gas-based gensets, there is no guarantee when we would get the gas supply as pipelines have not reached everywhere," said Sanjeev Sharma, general secretary of the Industrial Entrepreneurs Association.
When asked, officials from IGL - a key PNG supplier in the district - said pipelines now cover 95% of the industrial area in Greater Noida. "We can certainly provide gas connections to meet the requirement of the industrial units," said Amit Nangia, deputy general manager, IGL.
The owner of a yarn processing unit in the city, Manoj Agarwal rued the costs of switching to a gas-based infrastructure and asked why there wasn't any assistance from the government.
"I have already invested a huge amount in converting the boiler at my unit to one run by PNG. Now switching to gas-based gensets would mean an additional expense of Rs 25 lakh and then getting a gas connection, which takes a long time. We've barely managed to get through after losses during the pandemic, why are we being burdened again with such tight deadlines without any subsidy from the government," Agarwal said.
Another factory owner said at the meeting that he had made the change to PNG gensets, but the costs of running it were still high as gas prices have risen.
Z Rehman, whose company manufactures electronics, also pointed out that the ban did not take into account local conditions.
"This is an unplanned scrapping of diesel gensets. We would not need generators if power transmission lines in industrial areas are made robust. In case of a power failure, using gensets is a compulsion, as stopping the machinery even for a few minutes can cause heavy losses," he said.
NPCL officials said the power outages are due to technical faults in overhead cables, which are vulnerable to weather and other external conditions.
"We are working in phases to shift to underground wires, but it cannot be done all at once. Tripping will be rare once the wires are all underground," said Arunashish Dey, manager (operations) at NPCL.
On Friday, state pollution control board officials said the ban was going to be in effect from next month.
"Air quality in winter months depletes due to a number of factors, including emissions from diesel gensets. After September 30, all units must have PNG gensets or retrofitted generators, or else action will be taken according to the CAQM's guidelines," said Bhuvan Yadav, regional officer, UPPCB.