India-New Zealand match at Kotla, first without the use of diesel gensets

The city of Delhi is one of the hardest hit due to air pollution globally. It was only last year that the atmospheric conditions of Delhi reached hazardous level post the festival of Diwali. The emission due to the burning of crackers created a dense smog which refused to leave the city for several days.

The Delhi government was forced to make necessary changes since. Therefore, burning of crackers was banned by the SC this time around along with several other measures.

One of them came into scrutiny last night in the match between India and New Zealand where for the first time an international match was held at Kotla without the use of diesel gensets for power, which in turn saved the environment an equivalent of 20 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

“It was the first time that an international cricket match was successfully conducted at Feroz Shah Kotla without using a single genset,” claimed a statement from BSES, which is one of the two power distribution giants in the capital.

DDCA requested for triple of the sanctioned power allotted

According to reports from Discom, this was the first occasion when an event of this magnitude was held solely with the help of grid electricity.

“As the use of diesel gensets in Delhi-NCR was banned by EPCA (Environment Pollution Control Authority) on October 18, the absence of diesel gensets help prevent 20 tonnes of Co2 from being released in the capital’s environment,” added the statement according to Business Standards.

Furthermore, DDCA requested for an additional load of 3,500 KW for the match from BSES, while the body has a sanctioned load of 1,800 KW. “With no cushion of any backup gensets, BSES Yamuna Power Ltd had the sole responsibility to ensure uninterrupted power supply, at the right voltage and with no fluctuation,” added the Discom spokesman.

“If the gensets were used for power supply in the stadium, it would have consumed around 7,500 litres of diesel, which would have resulted in the emission of 20 tonnes of Co2, 120 kg of nitrogen oxide and 4 kg of PM 2.5 emission into the atmosphere,” concluded the official.