a scorching 120 degrees and fans coolers and airconditioners work overtime it was closed in november in an effort to improve air qualitybut an analysis by greenpeace india found that delhi has adequate supply to meet its needs and the power provided by the badarpur plant is more expensive than energy that could be bought from the central grid even if badarpur needed to reopen said sunil dahiya who wrote the report it would not need to be used until junethe government defended the reopening of the plant as being consistent with the action planmr ali said that when pollution conditions have become bad the plant has been directed to stop operations temporarilyhe said that the plant was meeting emissions standards and that the environmental pollution control authority had said that the goal would be the ultimate closing of the plant in 2018 the center for science and the environment based in delhi found the badarpur plant to be one of the countrys most polluting in 2015some experts say that the contribution of the badarpur plant to delhis air pollution is limited even when it is running at capacity and that a more efficient way to ensure better air would be to carry out the national emissions standards for thermal power plants that the environment ministry passed in december 2015 and are scheduled to take effect next decemberthose standards require the countrys coalbased thermal power plants to keep emissions between 30 and 100 milligrams of particles per cubic meter down from the 150 to 350 presently allowed as well as limit other polluting gasesbut piyush goyal the power minister said on feb 13 that discussions with the environment ministry to delay the december deadline were continuing the press trust of india reportedan official with the central governments environment ministry could not be reached for comment