Jammu, August 24: Thestate of Jammu and Kashmir is counted amongst the poor states of India which has only tourism to boast for its economy while all other sectors either lack the potential or have been neglected by the successive governments.
However what the successive governments have ignored is the potential of vast energy resources that this state can generate to become self reliant in energy resources if the hydel and solar energy of the state is tapped scientifically and with sincerity.
The state has abundant natural resources where hydel power can be generated with little investments creating mini power projects while the big power projects are already under process. Similarly the state has also huge potential of solar energy generation particularly in Ladakh region where it is estimated that 30,000MW of power can be generated through solar energy in the first phase itself.
The question arises that what happened to the MoU’s that this government signed with the central government in 2014 to tap the solar energy in the state beginning with Ladakh region where 7500 MV of solar energy was to be taped with the help of Ministry of New & Renewable Energy Government of India.
The Jammu and Kashmir government had signed a MoU with the Ministry for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India, on March 3, 2015 for implementation of solar power projects of the capacity of 7,500 MW.
The agreement was signed at a high-level meeting of the senior officers of the state government and MNRE, chaired by the then Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Farooq Abdullah.
Under the MoU Solar Projects of the capacity of 5,000 MW in Ladakh and 2,500 MW in Kargil possessing tremendous potential for new and renewable energy were to be taken up for implementation.
The then Union Joint Secretary, MNRE, Tarun Kapoor and the then Jammu and Kashmir State Commissioner Secretary, Science and Technology Bipul Pathak had signed the MoU on behalf of the duo governments.
The Union Minister had highlighted the importance of the MoU between the state and the Central Government for harnessing of green energy from the Ladakh area, who had disclosed that this area possesses vast potential of solar power.
He had said that Ladakh possesses the potential of 30,000 MW of solar energy and the signing of MoU would be a vanguard step towards harnessing this potential.
With such vast potential of hydel and solar energy the state can become the hub of energy in the days to come where it can not only use its own energy but also sell the energy to other states thus becoming self reliant in the energy resources.
Since the energy sector in these days is the most sought after sector as far as the top business is considered it is but natural that those manning the affairs of the state at this time must ponder over the issue and utilize their resources to tap the solar energy in the state to solve the energy requirements of the state.
The state which has huge debt in the shape of pending arrears of electricity bills will do itself and the people of the state a big favour if the powers that be devote their attention towards this sector.