With the aim to give impetus to green energy, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to launch a community mini-green tubewell scheme under which clusters of farmers will be provided solar energy-operated tubewells.
This and some other decisions were approved by the UP cabinet in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Wednesday.
A government spokesman said that under this scheme, a solar energy-driven community tubewell will be set up for a minimum cluster of 10 farmers. The estimated cost will be Rs 4.69 lakh of which the Central assistance will be Rs 73,000 and the state will contribute Rs 2.42 lakh. The rest Rs 1.53 lakh will be shared by the farmers.
“To start with, this scheme will be operated as a pilot project and if found acceptable, it will be launched across the state. However, the scheme will not be launched in the dark zones of the state,” the spokesman said.
Dark zones are those areas where the ground water level has dropped alarmingly.
In another decision, the cabinet approved the proposal to hand over land of the Tourism department to set up a Food Craft Institute in Aligarh. The food craft institute was set up in 1984 on the directions of the Union government but did not have its building and was running from the campus of Aligarh Muslim University.
“As it is an educational institution and provides vocational training to youth, the AMU asked the institute to vacate its premises after which the government decided that the Tourism department would provide land free of cost for the institute,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman further said that a barren land of 2,900 hectare had been identified and the cabinet had decided to hand it over for construction of the institute there.
The UP cabinet also approved a proposal to hand over 25,885 hectares of Forest land to the Indian Army for setting up a field firing range in Saharanpur.