Prime Minister Narendra Modi was all praises for Uttarakhand in terms of its performance in the realm of solar energy while interacting with the chief secretaries through video conferencing on Wednesday.
During the video conferencing, chief secretary Shatrughan Singh apprised the Prime Minister of the 1200 MW solar power projects to be attached with grid by March 2017. He also apprised the PM of the progress of Swachchh Bharat Mission (SBM), Waste to Wealth project, old age pension scheme and UDAY (Ujjawal Discom Assurance Yojna). Notably, to gauge the progress of PRAGATI, Prime Minister interacted with the States’ chief secretaries through video conferencing once in a month.
The CS assured the PM that the State would achieve 170 MW solar power target by March 2016. A 11 MW solar power plant has already been established and another of 23 MW targeted generation has been allocated, he said. Besides, the State has been making DPR for 50 MW power plant in Sitarganj and Kashipur, he said.
“In SBM, we have been collecting garbage, door to door, from 90 out of 700 wards spread across 90 urban areas so far. In Muni Ki Reti and Vikasnagar, the door to door collection of garbage has reached cent percent. We have put into place Municipal Waste Management Action Plan-2022.
We have been extensively working on community health too and we would start door to door garbage collection in 74 other urban areas by 2019. We have also set a target for waste to compost in Haridwar by December 2016 while the deadline for Dehradun, Haldwani and Nainital is June 2017.
WE have sent a proposal worth Rs230 crore under Namami Gange Mission (NGM) for solid waste management involving 400 metric tonnes for Kashipur, Roorkee, Pauri and Tehri. Around 500 MT garbage will be disposed through ultra high gasification mechanism in Dehradun and Haridwar and we would generate 25 MW power from it as well,” CS said. Under National Social Assistance Scheme, 2,50,018 elderly people in the State have been brought under the old age pension scheme by December 2015, Singh told the PM, adding that they have disbursed pension among 2,43,777 beneficiaries and for the remaining 8274, things have been updated. “Not just this, we have been connecting these beneficiaries with AADHAR cards,” he said.
Referring to UDAY, he claimed that they have made mapping of feeder and DT transformer metering, consumer index and line loss GIS mapping of 31 cities. In Uttarakhand Domestic Efficient lighting Programme (DIlP) was launched on November 9, 2015, he claimed, adding that they have disbursed four lakh lED bulbs among the consumers so far.
He further said that their target is to distribute 57 lakh lED bulbs across the State. During the video conferencing, the chief secretary was assisted by additional chief secretary S Raju, principal secretary Power Umakant Panwar, secretary Urban Development DS Garbyal, director Social Welfare BS Dhanik and some others.