Punjab planning to equip all govt buildings with solar panels
Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Nov, 2022 12:51 PM
Chandigarh, Nov 25 (IANS) The Punjab government is mulling to equip all state government buildings with solar panels to further strengthen the clean energy infrastructure in the state.
New and Renewable Energy Sources Minister Aman Arora on Friday said he has written a letter to heads of all departments in this regard.
In the letter, their consent has been sought to install solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the rooftops of the office buildings under the Renewable Energy Services Company (RESCO) Mode.
All the heads have also been directed to appoint a senior official of their department as a 'nodal officer' to co-ordinate with Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) to smoothen the process of solarising the building of the departments concerned.
The minister said PEDA has already installed solar PV of a total capacity of 88MW on the rooftops of various government buildings and these have been successfully generating energy.
Arora said it will also go a long way to save the environment by switching to clean and green energy from conventional forms of power generation using fossil fuels, which will help to decarbonise the power sector of the state.
On receiving information about the incident, SP City Dinesh Kumar Singh, along with police force, reached the spot. The injured youths were sent to the hospital for treatment and the matter is being investigated.
The Chief Minister said the government is fully sensitive towards checking cross-border infiltration in Punjab. He said Punjab Police is constantly in touch with the Border Security Force (BSF) and other agencies for this purpose.
While briefing the officers, the DGP said the topmost priority of the government, as directed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is to further strengthen the fight against drugs to make Punjab a drug-free state, besides eliminating the gangster culture, maintaining law and order, and detection of crime.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced Rs 5 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased, whereas Rs 15,000 as immediate relief for the injured. He said free treatment would be provided to the injured.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday carried out his first Cabinet expansion by inducting five legislators, including second-time MLA Aman Arora, into his council of ministers. The expansion came in less than four months of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sweeping to victory in the Assembly elections by winning 92 seats of the 117 seats.
The police have so far managed to nab four of the accused, including one woman, who have been identified as Gurjant Singh (31), Navjot Singh (30), Satpal Singh (28) and Gurpreet Kaur (30).
