10 villages in Mandya dist. selected for Model Solar Village Competition

Ten villages in Mandya district have been selected for the Model Solar Village Competition under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana (PMSG-MBY).

As per the 2011 Census criteria, villages with a population of more than 5,000 were eligible. Accordingly, Kennalu and Gummanahalli in Pandavapura taluk; Belagola and Arakere in Srirangapatna taluk; Keelara and Santhekasalagere in Mandya taluk; Besagarahalli and Kesturu in Maddur taluk; and Belakavadi and Kirugavalu in Malavalli taluk have been selected.

A Task Force Committee will be constituted under the leadership of the Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs) in each of these villages. Several awareness and promotional programmes will be undertaken to ensure effective participation in the competition, a press release said.

Households within the selected villages will be encouraged to install solar rooftop systems under the PMSG-MBY scheme. Also, farmers will be motivated to adopt solar pumpsets under Kusum-B, and support will be provided for land acquisition (government/private) under Kusum-C. Solar power will also be implemented for drinking water supply and street lights in government offices and buildings, the release added.

The competition, which began in July, will go on for six months. At the end of this period, the village with the highest adoption of renewable energy will be declared the “Model Solar Village”, and it will receive an incentive of ₹1 crore from Ministry of New and Renewable Energy , as per the directive of the Ministry.

A district-level committee has been formed under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner for the implementation of the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana in Mandya district. The Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer, tahsildars, CESC engineers, and Panchayat Development Officers will be present as members in the committee.