Punjab State Energy Action Plan launched for energy efficiency
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 May, 2023 02:02 PM
Chandigarh, May 10 (IANS) The Punjab New and Renewable Energy Sources Department on Wednesday launched Punjab State Energy Action Plan to ensure promotion of energy efficiency in buildings, industries, municipalities, agriculture, transport and other sectors.
The action plan is aimed at assisting government departments and agencies to adopt the most sustainable, long-term and inter-sectoral renewable and clean energy plans.
Additional Chief Secretary A. Venu Prasad, Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) Chairman H.S. Hanspal and head of Indo-German Energy Programme GIZ, Winfried Damm, also launched decision support tool and Amritsar smart city portal and renewable purchase obligations (RPO) portal for the state.
Amritsar will be developed as solar city, Prasad said while adding the energy action plan will help achieving goals towards net zero in each sector.
PEDA signed a pact with GIZ's IGEN Access to Energy programme funded by the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany for seeking technical assistance with the help of experienced team of consultants and representatives of over 20 departments and organisations.
Emphasising on the need of fast-tracking implementation of the action plan and review the progress quarterly, Prasad asked all departments to come forward to equip their office buildings with solar panels to decarbonise the power sector, which will help in reducing power consumption charges to 25 to 30 per cent.
Hanspal said PEDA is the state designated agency of government for implementation of the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, and the vision of the PEDA to achieve net-zero goals by 2070.
Appreciating the efforts of PEDA for taking the lead to prepare this unique document, Indo-German Energy Programme GIZ head Damm explained the importance of long-term energy planning to meet India's ambition on achieving the net-zero goal.
He emphasised on the role of all government departments and citizens of the state in realising the targets set at international stage.
He also shared examples from different European nations and their sectoral initiatives to decarbonise their economy, mostly by 2050, Germany by 2045.
In March, the top court had reserved the order on sentence to Mallya, who was found guilty of contempt in 2017 for disobeying court's order for not disclosing full particulars of assets in case between the SBI and Kingfisher Airlines.
Besides Bains, Paramjit Singh Pamma, Jasbir Kaur, Baljinder Kaur and Pardeep Kumara surrendered in the court of Judicial Magistrate Harsimranjit Kaur. Two other accused -- Karamjit Singh Bains and Sukhchain Singh -- are in judicial custody. All seven were declared proclaimed offender on April 12.
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea by Punjab BJP leader Jagjit Singh seeking CBI probe into the cold-blooded murder of famous Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala. A bench comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and Abhay Oka said the case should not be given a political colour and Punjab is supposed to take care of it and they are taking care of the matter.
The police have recovered 5.57 kg heroin, 17 kg opium, 25 kg ganja, seven quintals poppy husk, 2.25 lakh intoxicant pills and capsules, etc, after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas.
The authorities were directed to commence classes in Medical Colleges of Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Sangrur from next year. Free medicines should be provided to patients in the hospitals of the medical colleges as early as possible, he added.
In 2022, the two most populous regions are both in Asia: Eastern and South-Eastern Asia with 2.3 billion people (29 per cent of the global population), and Central and Southern Asia with 2.1 billion (26 per cent). China and India, with more than 1.4 billion each, accounted for most of the population in these two regions. The world's population is projected to reach 8 billion on November 15, 2022.
