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Solar rooftop power project in Bathinda: Applications of non-SC ‘beneficiaries’ rejected
There was no clarity on how beneficiaries were selected for project conceived by ex-minister Manpreet Badal, say officials
BATHINDA: The mega ₹100-crore solar rooftop power generation infrastructure project meant for the underprivileged sections of Bathinda city has been curtailed to half after the Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) suspected “favoritism” in the list of proposed beneficiates.
Official privy to the matter said there was no clarity on how the beneficiaries were selected for the first-of-its-kind scheme launched in Punjab. The ambitious project was conceived by the former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal and rolled out it in his Bathinda Urban constituency on December 11, 2021, three months before the state assembly elections.
It was seen as a major initiative to bring people closer to renewable energy resources that would further provide beneficiaries a relief by saving on the power bills.
PEDA authorities said under the scheme, SCs and families from the economically weaker sections (EWS) living in the urban slum of Bathinda city were to be equally provided solar power generation units for free.
PEDA additional director, off-grid rooftop solar power scheme, Jaspal Singh all applications other than the Scheduled Caste category, have been rejected for lack of transparency.
He said the work of installing solar power producing facility at 4,541 households belonging to the SCs will be restarted soon whereas applications of equal number of other claimants were rejected.
“Under the ambitious project, 9,082 households in the Bathinda municipal limits were to be equipped with the free complete alternative power production facility. As all applications for the other SC segment category were found without valid documents, they were rejected,” said Singh.
Installation of rooftop solar panels was stopped by the Election Commission of India after the Shiromani Akal Dal lodged a complaint on February 16 ahead of the state polls.
“A private contractor had started a process to install about 1,700 solar panels when work was stalled. All of these beneficiaries belong to the SC community whose files were approved by PEDA. The work will resume soon,” Jaspal Singh added.
PEDA chief executive officer (CEO) NPS Randhawa said the list of beneficiaries was provided to the state agency by the Bathinda municipal corporation.
“Claimants under the SC category, having no financial status restriction, had submitted their valid caste certificates and these were duly accepted. Whereas, the non-SC applicants had inadequacies. We will write to the state government for necessary action,” said Randhawa.
On Friday, Bathinda mayor Raman Goyal said she would get back after gathering details on the method adopted to select the beneficiaries. Later, she could not be contacted despite repeated calls.
On September 27, HT had quoted then Bathinda municipal commissioner Bikram Shergill that neither the Bathinda district administration nor the corporation had made any list of the beneficiaries.
