Punjab’s villages would get a facelift, besides being providing facilities at par with the urban areas. Sanctioning Rs 4000 crore for the same, the State Government has also decided to carry out all round development of the villages during the course of next five years.
Announcing the same, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal on Friday said that Punjab is scripting new success stories with each passing day and is miles ahead of the other States in terms of developmental index.
“Punjab has become the power surplus state while in neighbouring states, power supply is on for a few hours during the entire 24-hour a day. With the advent of solar plants, power production in Punjab would reach record and unmatched level in near future,” he said.
It is significant to mention that apart from new solar plant at Vanwala, Punjab Government has helped Azure Power to commence the establishment of 150 megawatt solar plants in Badal, Bahadurgarh Jadian in Bathinda and Korianwali and Bahadurkhera in Fazilka at a cost of Rs798.6 crore.
Sukhbir said that establishing of solar energy plants is very important for Punjab to get clean and affordable power. He also informed that those areas have witnessed increase in income for farmers through solar plants, the soil of which was affected by water logging or suffered from barrenness.
He said that the increasing demand for power in such areas can be easily met.
“As of today, Muktsar district stands at numero uno position in terms of setting up of solar plants and it is the serious endeavour of the state government to encourage other areas of the state also to be aware regarding production of solar energy,” he said.
Announcing more, he said that the state government is spending Rs100 crore on fixing solar lights in 1000 villages.
Castigating those branding Punjabi people as drug addicts, he said that on one hand, Punjab is going several notches higher on national development index, while on the other hand, anti-Punjab forces are busy in carrying out malicious and misinformation campaign against the state.
Earlier, Sukhbir inaugurated 28 MW capacity solar plant in Killianwali, with cost being Rs201 crore, which would generate 420 lakh unit of power.New and Renewable Energy Minister Bikram Singh Majithia said that Punjab is setting new milestones in the field of solar energy and by 2017, there would be 2000 villages receiving power only through solar plants.
“Punjab has maximum number of rooftop solar plants in the country and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would honour Punjab on June 7 at Vigyan Bhawan for this shining achievement,” he said.