Chandigarh August 6:
Following in the footsteps of other cities in the country, Punjab has decided to come forward to be a part of an ambitious programme regarding development of solar cities. After receiving a go-ahead from the Central Government to make Amritsar and Ludhiana a solar city, the Punjab Energy Development Agency expects to achieve the target by 2012.
The State’s holy city - Amritsar and the industrial hub - Ludhiana are soon going to add a new tag with their names, that is of ‘green’ or ‘solar’ city. Down to business, PEDA is all set to invite tenders for the preparation of master plan of solar city by the end of this month. Balaour Singh, Director, PEDA said: “The central Government has given their sanction for Amritsar and Ludhiana, though we have also proposed the name of Jalandhar for the same, as the minimum population of such cities required to be five lakhs. But the scheme is available for only two cities in each State.”
He said: “The tenders will be invited by the end of this month and the consultants for the preparation of master plan for these cities will be decided upon in next few days.”Under the eleventh five year plan, the Centre has proposed to develop 60 such cities with the target of making at least one city in each state to a maximum of two cities into a solar city.
Speaking to The Pioneer, PEDA senior manager Jaspal Singh said: “This scheme will be mainly focusing on meeting the peak electricity demand of cities, reducing the dependence on expensive oil and gas for energy and also promoting the increased use of renewable energy. It will be studied as how the changes can be introduced in the hotel industry, commercial sector, domestic use like cooking, lighting.”Jaspal said: “We have set the target to reduce up to 10 per cent of energy consumption of the city and proposed to meet the requirement through renewable energy and energy efficiency measures like use of CFLs and other energy saving equipment and creating awareness among people.”
“As of now, Rs 50 lakh will be provided for the preparation of master plan along with public awareness and promotional activities and also for setting up solar city cell,” he added.He informed that the concepts like green building will be promoted among people with various awareness programmes.
Following in the footsteps of other cities in the country, Punjab has decided to come forward to be a part of an ambitious programme regarding development of solar cities. After receiving a go-ahead from the Central Government to make Amritsar and Ludhiana a solar city, the Punjab Energy Development Agency expects to achieve the target by 2012.
The State’s holy city - Amritsar and the industrial hub - Ludhiana are soon going to add a new tag with their names, that is of ‘green’ or ‘solar’ city. Down to business, PEDA is all set to invite tenders for the preparation of master plan of solar city by the end of this month. Balaour Singh, Director, PEDA said: “The central Government has given their sanction for Amritsar and Ludhiana, though we have also proposed the name of Jalandhar for the same, as the minimum population of such cities required to be five lakhs. But the scheme is available for only two cities in each State.”
He said: “The tenders will be invited by the end of this month and the consultants for the preparation of master plan for these cities will be decided upon in next few days.”Under the eleventh five year plan, the Centre has proposed to develop 60 such cities with the target of making at least one city in each state to a maximum of two cities into a solar city.
Speaking to The Pioneer, PEDA senior manager Jaspal Singh said: “This scheme will be mainly focusing on meeting the peak electricity demand of cities, reducing the dependence on expensive oil and gas for energy and also promoting the increased use of renewable energy. It will be studied as how the changes can be introduced in the hotel industry, commercial sector, domestic use like cooking, lighting.”Jaspal said: “We have set the target to reduce up to 10 per cent of energy consumption of the city and proposed to meet the requirement through renewable energy and energy efficiency measures like use of CFLs and other energy saving equipment and creating awareness among people.”
“As of now, Rs 50 lakh will be provided for the preparation of master plan along with public awareness and promotional activities and also for setting up solar city cell,” he added.He informed that the concepts like green building will be promoted among people with various awareness programmes.
mai te tyariyan karke bethi si 
...![[Hardeep]](https://www.unp.me/data/avatars/m/25/25527.jpg?1570213921){kind=avatar}
