Mineral-rich and power surplus Chhattisgarh which provides a sizeable revenue to the Central kitty has failed to find a place in the 11-member sub-group including Chief Ministers of 10 States on rationalisation of centrally-sponsored schemes. It may be mentioned that the sub-group on rationalisation of Centrally-sponsored schemes has been constituted as per decision taken in the first meeting of the Governing Council chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 8, 2015.
The sub-group consists of 11 members including the Chief Ministers of 10 States viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and lG of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The first meeting of the sub-group on rationalisation of Centrally-sponsored schemes was held under the convenership of the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan at NITI Aayog on Friday.
The Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Rajasthan, and lG of Andaman & Nicobar attended the meeting. Member of NITI Aayog, Bibek Debroy and CEO, Sindhushree Khullar along with senior officials of the Aayog were also present at the meeting.
The meeting discussed various aspects of rationalisation of the centrally sponsored schemes with a view to improving their impact. Even in certain key Central initiatives earlier, Chhattisgarh has failed to find a place for unknown reasons even while having certain clear geographical and climatic advantages.
For instance as per the information available, the Centre has chosen Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and ladakh for setting up ultra mega solar power projects. The Central Government plans to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy to more than 160 GW by 2022 including 100 GW solar energy and 60 GW wind energy across the country, officials stated.
As per 2013-14 annual report of Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Chhattisgarh achieved a total commissioned capacity of 7.1000 MW from grid connected solar PV power projects as on March 31, 2014. The total commissioned capacity of such Solar PV power projects was 4.000 MW as on March 31, 2013 in Chhattisgarh, it stated. The grid connected power projects were commissioned under Phase-I of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). A total of 11 projects of 50.5 MW capacity under the ‘migration scheme’ and 26 projects of 140 MW capacity under Batch-I were commissioned during the year across the country.
The JNNSM is a key initiative of the Union Government and the State Governments to promote ecologically sustainable growth while addressing India’s energy security challenges. The Mission is one of the several initiatives that were part of National Action Plan on Climate Change, it stated.
The JNNSM was launched on January 11, 2010 and the Mission targets included — deployment of 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022, 2000 MW of off-grid solar applications including 20 million solar lights by 2022, 20 million square metre of solar thermal collector area besides creating favourable conditions for developing solar manufacturing capability in the country and to support R&D and capacity building activities to achieve grid parity by 2022. The Mission is to be completed in three phases, the report stated.
For the first phase of the Mission, the Union Cabinet had approved a target to set up 1,100 MW grid connected solar plants including 100 MW capacity plants as rooftop and other small solar power plants till March 2013. In addition, a target of 200 MW capacity equivalent of off-grid solar applications and 7 million square metre solar thermal collector area were also approved during the aforesaid period.
The Union Cabinet till March 2013 had also approved setting up of a large utility scale grid power plants through bundling of solar power with the unallocated thermal power available from NTPC stations and the policy to provide generation based incentive for small grid connected solar power plants, it stated.
Incidentally, Chhattisgarh has bagged a National Award as the best performing State by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Renewable Energy segment.
Chhattisgarh even does not to find mention in the list of Union Urban Development Ministry’s Mission in 18 States in buildings owned by Central Public Works Department (CPWD) to generate more than 100 MW solar power in the next two years through roof mounted solar panels.
It may be recalled that the Union Ministry of Urban Development has launched a Mission to generate 100 MW of solar power in the next two years through roof mounted solar panels. Towards achieving this goal, Central Public Works Department (CPWD), the construction major under the Ministry and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Sources had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recently.
The MoU was signed by B B Bhatia, Director General of CPWD and Dr Ashvini Kumar, Managing Director of SECI in New Delhi recently. Union Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister of Power and NRES Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Urban Development Babul Supriyo, Secretary(UD), Shankar Aggarwal and senior officials were present on the occasion.
As per the MoU, CPWD would provide 629 buildings owned and maintained by it in 18 States for installing solar photovoltaic projects on rooftops by the executing agency SECI for generation of power. A total roof area of 16,76,233 sq mts is available on these buildings out of which 60 per cent would be used for power generation. Solar panels would be connected to the grid.