JAMMU, Jan 3: Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo convened a meeting today to assess the progress of solar rooftop installations under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana in Jammu and Kashmir.
Attendees included the Principal Secretary of PDD, Principal Secretary of Finance, Commissioner Secretary of Science & Technology, MD of JPDCL/KPDCL, CEO of JAKEDA, Chief Engineers, and various other officials, both in person and through virtual means.
Dulloo stressed the importance of conducting extensive IEC campaigns to enhance public awareness about the initiative. He advocated for the creation of awareness materials in local languages for better understanding, in addition to sending bulk SMS messages to the target consumers.
He directed a comprehensive outreach to every panchayat, involving the distribution of IEC materials in local languages and showcasing educational videos and success stories. Furthermore, he urged the Discoms to appoint dedicated nodal officers from among their engineers to facilitate these efforts and provide relevant feedback to their superiors.
The Chief Secretary noted that such initiatives are reform-oriented and provide direct benefits to the public. He called for unified efforts to increase the number of applicants and ensure timely installations for each one. A target was set for the Discoms to achieve the installation of approximately 30,000 solar rooftops across the union territory’s districts. He advised intensifying outreach efforts until the desired results are accomplished.
Principal Secretary for PDD, H Rajesh Prasad, informed the attendees that financial institutions and banks are offering loans at a rate of 7 percent to facilitate installations for consumers. Additionally, central financial assistance is being directly credited to applicants’ bank accounts within 15 days of solar rooftop installation by vendors.
He highlighted that, even with bank financing, the savings under this scheme are appealing. The Government of India is providing a subsidy of Rs 33,000 per kW, with an additional Rs 3,000 per kW subsidized by the UT government for domestic consumers up to a 3 kW installation capacity. It was noted that around 11,000 applications have been submitted to the respective Discoms in the Jammu and Kashmir divisions, with 617 installations completed to date. Future revisions in power tariffs are expected to enhance savings further. This initiative aims to significantly improve progress in reducing AT&C losses, thereby increasing efficiency in power supply to consumers.
The Chief Secretary subsequently reviewed the solarization of government buildings through the J&K Energy Development Agency (JAKEDA), pushing for further improvements in the implementation of this project to meet the necessary wattage before its deadline.
Commissioner Secretary for Science & Technology, Saurabh Bhagat, provided an overview of the scheme’s overall progress, reporting that 4,108 buildings had been covered, resulting in an installed capacity of 35.2 MW. Furthermore, vendors had completed installations totaling 13.6 MW to date.
Regarding the total scope of work, it was reported that a cumulative total of 70 MW capacity of grid-connected solar rooftops will be installed on government buildings under Capex, along with an additional 238 MW under the RESCO model by NHPC and JAKEDA.
Leave a Reply