*Visits solar energy awareness camp
Excelsior Correspondent
VERINAG, Aug 3: Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta today said Verinag is an important tourist destination and constant efforts are being made to enhance the destination with modern state of the art tourist infrastructure.
He made these remarks in his virtual address during the concluding ceremony of two-day multi-activity event ‘South Kashmir Adventure’ organised by Directorate of Tourism Kashmir. Secretary Tourism and Culture, Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, Director Tourism, CEO Verinag, renowned artists and locals participated in the event.
Maintaining that tourism promotion is a top priority of the Government, Chief Secretary said that Verinag offers scenic beauty at par with other major tourist destinations and all efforts are being taken to tap it’s full potential.
Chief Secretary said that there are certain things which are lacking but it is the endeavour of the Government to ensure that the shortcomings are addressed immediately and all the facilities are available to the tourists. He said that the coming times will be much better for the locals as the youth of the Valley have a vision to move forward.
Dr Mehta also interacted with the locals and adventure enthusiasts who thanked the Government for upscaling the infrastructure and organising adventure and cultural events for the promotion of tourism sector which adds to the economy of the local populace.
Secretary Tourism, Dr Syed Abid Rasheed Shah in his address said that Jammu and Kashmir government is launching new initiatives and attractions for tourists to enjoy which can have a positive impact on the local economy.
Secretary Tourism further said that promoting adventure tourism has several benefits that can help to diversify the tourism industry by attracting a new segment of tourists who are interested in exploring the great outdoors and seeking new challenges.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary inspected the stalls installed to create awareness about the benefits of adopting solar energy among the employees in the lawns of Civil Secretariat here.
The camp is being held from August 02-04 by J&K Energy Development Agency (JAKEDA), Department of Science & Technology in collaboration with multiple vendors of renewable energy industry and other line departments of Jammu and Kashmir.
Dr Mehta appreciated JAKEDA for organizing this awareness camp about the GoI sponsored Grid connected Solar Rooftop Power Plants. He encouraged the employees to come forward and take lead in adopting this clean and reliable energy source that would not only reduce their power bills substantially but simultaneously save our environment by reducing carbon emissions also.
He asked JAKEDA to organize more such awareness camps across other parts of the UT so that people would know about rooftop solar plant, KUSUM scheme and its financing pattern so that the benefits reach all the eligible persons.
The Chief Secretary said that renewable sources of energy holds great promise the future as Government envisions a future with reduced dependence on fossil fuels by promoting alternative renewable energy sources. He also noted that besides reducing carbon emissions, the generation of solar energy through rooftop solar programme would also offset power requirements of domestic consumers in J&K thereby aiding our Power Discoms to provide quality power to rest of the consumers.
He observed that ultimately the future belongs to renewable energy. He further gave out that the energy besides clean and less hazardous is cost-effective for the people. He encouraged them to readily adopt this futuristic technology for both their domestic and agricultural purposes in order to save their resources and environment as well.
The Commissioner Secretary, Science and Technology, Saurabh Bhagat on the occasion remarked that the department is making concerted efforts to popularize the use of solar energy both in public and private sector. He made out that Under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, GoI’s Schemes, domestic electricity consumers across the UT can install Rooftop Solar PV Plants for electricity purposes and can also avail the benefit of securing around 50-65% subsidy on installation of such plants.
It was given out that the solar rooftops are available from 1 KW to 10 KW capacity with five years free maintenance. Moreover with the tie-up of JAKEDA with the Banks, the employees can avail the benefits on the EMI starting from just over Rs 900/month.
A noticeable feature of the scheme is that it occupies only 80-100 sft roof area per KW, generating 120-140 units of energy per month on an average.
It was also revealed that it can offset about 1.43 tons of carbon emission annually per kW which is equivalent to planting 66 trees. It also supplements energy generation which in turn reduces power curtailment hours and the plants can be customized as per the requirements of the consumers to off-set his monthly electricity bills
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