Now,Govt targets shopping malls for wasting energy

"Shopping malls are vulgar display of wealth," minister of State for Urban Development Saugata Roy said.

Targeting malls,a Union Minister described them as 8220;energy guzzlers8221;,which reflect 8216;vulgar display8217; of money and sought regulations on such shopping centres.

8220;Shopping malls are vulgar display of wealth and a vulgar wastage of energy and space,8221; Minister of State for Urban Development Saugata Roy said at a seminar,agreeing with environmentalist R K Pachauri who also described the malls as 8220;energy guzzlers8221;.

The remarks were made while the Minister and Pachauri were interacting with the audience at a conference on 8216;Green Design: Building and Habitat8217; organised by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and The Energy and Resources Institute TERI.

8220;It is high time the society steps in and put certain regulations on shopping malls which are energy guzzlers,8221; Roy,a Trinamool Congress leader,said.

Accusing owners of shopping malls of not making any special effort for energy conservation or water conservation,the Minister said,8221;Apart from the psychological impact they create on the poorer sections of society,the energy that they guzzle is terrible.8221;

8220;It seems their principle is show how much you can waste and how much you can miss,8221; he said but added that shopping malls will come up in a market-driven economy.

Recently,Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had termed sports utility vehicles SUVs as diesel guzzlers and called their use in the country 8220;criminal8221;.

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Pachauri said malls in India are 8220;identical replica of what you have in north America.8221;

8220;I find it baffling that so many of these shopping malls coming up all over the country. And I have some serious objections. You know they are huge energy guzzlers,8221; he said.

Pachauri said the people who operate the malls would save a lot of money if they spend some wealth and effort in making them a little more energy-efficient.

8220;But unfortunately that is not happening. So something has to be done and there is something terribly wrong that all these shopping malls are coming up are an identical replica of what you have in north America. I don8217;t see why we should be doing this here,8221; he added.