Odisha Chief Secretary SC Mohapatra on Thursday inaugurated a solar based energy system in a government-run high school at Narayanpatna in Ganjam district. The Narayanpatna high school in Kankia panchayat is one among 535 government-run high schools in the district that has been taken up by Ganjam district administration to install the solar energy facility with an investment of ₹9 cr.
In the first phase, the solar panels would be installed in the transformed high schools under the 5T initiatives, where the infrastructure facilities have already been completed, sources said. As many as 366 high schools have already been developed under the 5T initiative.
Additional chief secretary Anu Garg, secretary to the chief minister and 5T V K Pandian, who accompanied the chief secretary to the high school, reportedly praised the district administration for these innovative steps to make a go-green concept in the district schools.
“The work of installation of solar panels is going on in full swing. Thirty high schools have already been covered in solar energy so far and the rest will be completed in the next three months” said Vijay Amruta Kulange, Collector Ganjam. The expenditure for the project will be met through the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds of different companies and contribution of Mo Schools, he said.
The solar energy generation units will be installed in the schools to provide 2 and 4 kw energy in small and big high schools, he said.
The smart class, four lights, four fans, interactive panel, e-library, laboratory, lights in the toilets and veranda of each school will be illuminated with the solar energy, said Shinde Dattatraya Bhausaheb, project director, District rural development agency (DRDA).
Besides making the schools energy independent, the project will also create awareness on the use of renewable energy among the students. It will also help the schools to reduce their expenditure on power bills.
The electricity bills in the schools have gone up due to the use of interactive panels in smart classes and computers in the e-libraries, set up in all the transformed high schools. The solar energy project will help the schools to reduce their power bills and uninterrupted power supply, he added.
A high level team led by the chief secretary also visited Ganjam and Gajapati districts. They looked into the field level progress of various developmental projects in the districts.
The team reviewed the progress of Ghatakeswar Multi-Purpose Irrigation Project being constructed over the river Ghadka with an estimated outlay of ₹172.06 crore. Reviewing the progress with field level engineers, the chief secretary directed them to complete the project by December this year.
Located at a distance of about 20 km from Berhampur city, this project covered a catchment area of about 23.55 sq km, and would irrigate around 600 hectares of land in Kukudakhandi block. In addition to this, the project would also supply 8.25 MLD drinking water to more than one lakh people in Berhampur city and adjoining areas.
The team also visited Gajapati district and looked into the progress of Chheligada Medium Irrigation and hydro-power generation project. Mohapatra set timelines for different phases of the project.
