Odisha Chief Secretary SC Mohapatra on Thursday inaugurated a solar-based energy system at a government-run high school in Narayanpatna in Ganjam district. The Narayanpatna High School in Kankia panchayat is one of the 535 government-run high schools in the district taken over by the Ganjam district administration to install the solar power facility with an investment of Rs 9 crore.
In the first phase, the solar panels would be installed in the transformed secondary schools under the 5T initiatives, where the infrastructure facilities have already been completed, sources said. 366 secondary schools have already been developed under the 5T initiative.
Additional Chief Secretary Anu Garg, Secretary to the Prime Minister and 5T VK Pandian, who accompanied the Chief Secretary to the high school, reportedly praised the district administration for these innovative steps to make a green concept in the district schools.
“The work of installing solar panels is in full swing. Thirty secondary schools have already been covered with solar energy so far and the rest will be completed in the next three months, said Vijay Amruta Kulange, Collector Ganjam. The expenses for the project will be covered by the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds of several companies and the contribution of Mo Schools,” he said. The solar power generation units will be installed in the schools to run in small and large high schools, he said.
The smart classroom, four lights, four fans, interactive panel, e-library, laboratory, lights in the toilets and porches of each school will be lit with solar energy, said Shinde Dattatraya Bhausaheb, project director of the District Office for Rural Development (DRDA) . In addition to making the schools energy independent, the project will also make students aware of the use of renewable energy. It will also help schools reduce their energy bill expenditures.
Electricity bills in the schools have risen due to the use of interactive panels in smart classrooms and computers in the e-libraries deployed in all transformed secondary schools. The solar project will help schools lower their energy bills and uninterrupted power, he added. The high-level team led by the chief secretary also visited Ganjam and Gajapati districts. They looked at the progress at the field level of various development projects in the districts.
The team assessed the progress of the Ghatakeswar Multi Purpose Irrigation Project being built across the Ghadka River with an estimated expenditure of Rs 172.06 crore. The chief secretary discussed progress with field-level technicians and instructed them to complete the project by December this year. Located at a distance of about 20 km from the city of Berhampur, this project covered a catchment area of about 23.55 km2 and would irrigate about 600 hectares of land in the Kukudakhandi block. In addition, the project would also provide 8.25 MLD of drinking water to more than a lakh people in the city of Berhampur and neighboring areas. The team also visited the Gajapati district and monitored the progress of the Chheligada Medium Irrigation and Hydropower project. Mohapatra established timelines for different phases of the project.
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