Palli Village in J&K To Become First Carbon-free Solar Panchayat

Residents of Palli, Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba District are excited about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to their village. This village is expected to be the first carbon-free solar pachayat in the Union Territory.

The village is just 17kms from Jammu’s winter capital Jammu and has undergone a significant transformation, from the macadamised roads to the recently launched electric bus service.

Work is continuing at war footing, especially on the 500KV solar plant. It is being installed in record time in just three weeks and covers an area of 6,408 sq metres. The plant will provide clean electricity for 340 houses in the model Panchayat that falls under the central government’s ‘Gram Urja Swraj’ programme.

“A twenty-five-member team is working around the clock to complete Rs 2.75 crore project within the next few days before its formal induction by the prime minister during the visit to the village, April 24,” Chetan Prakash Jain, chairman and managing director of Central Electronics Limited said.

He stated that the electricity generated from the solar project would be distributed to the village which has a daily need of 2,000 units through the local power station.

Anuradha Gupta, Deputy Commissioner for Samba, has already distributed solar Chulhas’ (stoves), to the beneficiaries of the village, which has more than 450 homes. After the visit of the prime minister, the rest of the houses will also be covered.

The prime minister will fly from Jammu to Pali village to address a gathering that includes over 30,000 members of Jammu and Kashmir’s Panchayati Raj Institution, (PRI), and 700 panchayats in the country virtual.

Modi will also be expected to make industrial investments in excess of Rs 70,000 crore, and to inaugurate and lay the foundation for several developmental projects, including two power plants.

Ravinder Sharma (local sarpanch) said that the launch of an electric bus service by the State Road Transport Corporation, (SRTC), from Jammu to the village and the installation the first ATM were long-awaited demands of the panchayat. He also stated that the work of providing tap water for every household was ongoing for the past year.