Entire Palli Panchayat to get solar power plants
6 Central Ministries join hands for visit
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Apr 1: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Palli Panchayat in Jammu district on April 24, six Central Ministries have joined hands for making arrangements including covering all 340 houses in the Panchayat with solar energy. One of the teams of the Central Ministry visited Jammu district including the Panchayat for last few days.
Six Central Ministries which are coordinating for visit of the Prime Minister include Science and Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Earth Sciences, Space, Atomic Energy and Bio Technology, official sources told the Excelsior.
Union Ministry of Science and Technology is headed by Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also the Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). One of its team conducted a three days tour of Jammu district and visited the Panchayat Palli, which has been selected for the Prime Minister’s April 24 visit and reviewed arrangements.
The team was led by senior officer Chetan Prakash.
Sources said all 340 houses in Palli Panchayat will be covered with solar energy ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit.
“An exercise in this regard has been initiated,” they said, adding the village will be provided 500 Kilowatts clean energy. The Panchayat will have round-the-clock electricity supply, ” they added.
Sources said Narendra Modi will deliver virtual address to nearly 700 Panchayats across the country from village Palli on April 24, the National Panchayats Day.
He is also scheduled to interact with farmers of the country through virtual mode, they added.
The Union Ministry of Science and Technology is also experimenting for irrigation using drones. The experiment is also being conducted in village Palli, to begin with, and will be extended to other villages later.
This is for the first time that the Prime Minister will be addressing National Panchayats Day in Jammu and Kashmir. He has been visiting different States/Union Territories to address the Panchayat members on the day.
While a number of Panchayat members from Jammu and Kashmir will gather at village Palli to hear the Prime Minister, Modi will also address the members of nearly 700 Panchayats across the country from Palli through virtual mode besides interacting with selected farmers.
This was for the first time that three-tier Panchayati Raj Institutions have been established in Jammu and Kashmir. In the annual budget of the UT for the financial year of 2022-23 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on March 14, a hefty funding provision has been kept for both urban and rural local bodies.
This will be the Prime Minister’s first visit to Jammu and Kashmir other than borders after abrogation of special status of J&K and bifurcation of erstwhile State into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. However, he had celebrated Diwali with Army soldiers on October 27, 2019 at Rajouri and November 3, 2021 at Nowshera sector in Jammu division. His last visit to Jammu and Kashmir as a State was on February 3, 2019 when he had visited all three regions including Jammu, Srinagar and Ladakh and launched projects worth thousands of crores.
Besides addressing the Panchayati Raj Day function, the Prime Minister is also expected to launch industrial investments in Jammu and Kashmir and inaugurate and lay foundation for some developmental projects during his visit to the Union Territory.
However, formal schedule of the Prime Minister is yet to be released.
The investment proposals in Jammu and Kashmir might also cross Rs 70,000 crore by the time the Prime Minister formally launches the scheme.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had last month announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch Jammu and Kashmir’s industrial investments shortly.
The Government of India had launched Industrial Development Scheme in Jammu and Kashmir on January 6, 2021 which was to the tune of Rs 28,400 crore and was expected to generate 4.5 lakh to 5 lakh jobs for the youth in the private sector.
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