J&K’s Palli set to become first carbon neutral village in country

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By Yogesh Sharma

500 Kilowatt Solar Plant installed on a total area of 6,408 square metres was completed in a record time of 20 days

Jammu: Palli, a village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district, is set to become the country’s first carbon-free solar panchayat, with the completion of a 500 kW solar plant.
The Solar Plant, which covered a total area of 6,408 square metres, was completed in an unprecedented 20 days. It will provide 340 Panchayat houses with clean electricity and lighting.
A 25-person team was working around the clock to complete the Rs 2.75 crore projects, which will provide clean electricity and lighting for the village’s daily requirement of 2000 units.
The project began with the goal of establishing the first carbon-neutral panchayat as part of the Indian government’s Gram Urja programme.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to fly to the village on National Panchayati Raj Day to formally inaugurate the project and address a gathering of over 30,000 Panchayati Raj Institution members from Jammu and Kashmir, as well as 700 panchayats from across the country.

Many people believe that the power project is a significant step forward in the government’s efforts to transform India into a carbon-neutral nation, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged last year at the COP26 Summit in Glasgow to reduce emissions to zero by 2070.

After China, the United States, and the European Union, India is the world’s fourth largest carbon dioxide emitter. However, due to its large population, its emissions per capita are much lower than those of other major world economies.

India emitted 1.9 tonnes of CO2 per head of population in 2019, compared with 15.5 tonnes for the US and 12.5 tonnes for Russia that year.

This will be the first visit of Modi to the Union Territory after the abrogation of the special status to J&K and bifurcation of the erstwhile state in August 2019.

Expressing happiness over the development work being undertaken by the government and the visit of the Prime Minister, Randhir Sharma, local Sarpanch, said the people are out on the road despite the scorching heat. They are very happy to see the development work carried out by the current government.

Taking about the solar plant, he said, “It is a huge relief to the people of my village because there is a problem of power outages in Jammu and, in particular in the summer season, the situation becomes worse. 

“We have been facing the problem of power outages in Jammu for so long, but now with this project we will have clean electricity for 24 hours and I thank Prime Minister Modi for this’ said Randhir Sharma.

Expressing gratitude to the Prime Minister for choosing the Jammu border village to address the nation on National Panchayati Raj day, the Sarpanch of the adjoining Gurwal halqa Mohan Lal Sharma said, “It is the need of the hour to take initiative to safeguard our environment to assure ecological balnce and rendering Palli village carbon free will prove a landmark in this direction.”

Sunil Shastri, a resident of Palli, said “The people of the village are very happy and it seems like a “fair” is being organized. Children, women, and every section of society are very happy that our village is going to become a carbon-free Panchayat”.

In view of the PM visit the village pound was restored along with Panchayat Ghar, with upgraded facilities including computers and internet connection. The playing field and streets are also being developed at a fast pace.

“The most important thing is that a solar power plant has been established in our area, which will provide free electricity to our households” said Vishnu Das to The Environment.

The PM’s visit created a festive mood in the Palli village, as every section of society, including children, came out in large numbers to decorate the locality with wall painting and planting saplings in and around the village.

Students painting walls ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit to the village.

Preeti Sharma, a housewife, is also very ecstatic over the development workers in her village and said, “Our village was underdeveloped and we didn’t have the basic facilities, even drinking water, but since this government has come to power, lots of development works have been completed and I thank the Prime Minister for this.”

Rapid urbanization and industrialization has increased the demand of electricity expeditiously across Jammu and Kashmir. To meet this requirement, the government is working tirelessly to ramp up electricity production.

Under the new budget in PM KUSUM Scheme, 375 number of Solar Water Pumps will be installed in 2022-23 providing electricity benefit to 47159 beneficiaries, direct agriculture benefit to 18750   and indirect agriculture benefit to 1,60,000 people.

Under the Jammu Solar City Mission, Grid tied Rooftop Solar Power Plants of aggregate capacity of 200 MW in residential sector will be provided to 50000 households in 2022-23 benefitting a population of 2 lakh souls.

Also, under the Jammu Smart City Project, grid tied Rooftop Solar Power Plants of aggregate capacity of 12 MW are to be provided to 200 number of Government buildings in 2022-23 absolving hydropower Sector of 48,000 KWh.

Similarly, through the Srinagar Smart City Project, grid tied Rooftop Solar Power Plants of aggregate capacity of 4 MW will be provided to 70 number of Government buildings in 2022-23 absolving hydropower Sector of 1,6000 KWh.

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