Congress track record casts doubt on Telangana’s promise-laden energy policy

The govt has done nothing to set up solar panels on government buildings and failed to add even a single megawatt of renewable energy in the last one year

By Anil Kumar 

Hyderabad: After failing to add even a single megawatt of renewable energy in the last one year, the Congress government has now come up with a new Clean and Green Energy Policy which claims to target investments of Rs 1.98 lakh crore and creation of 1.14 lakh jobs over the next decade.

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While the policy seems promising on paper, Telangana in recent times has not been visibly making use of the potential of solar energy for various reasons.

Apart from this, the lack of awareness, high initial costs, absence of State government subsidy and lack of financing options are hindering rooftop solar installation programmes in the State.

The new policy aims to add 20,000 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy capacity by 2030, making Telangana a major player in renewable energy in the country.

However, at the field level, the situation is totally different with the solar power generators facing problems due to the non-cooperative attitude of the staff of DISCOMs.

The new policy talks about encouraging rooftop solar power plants in government schools, Indiramma houses, government buildings and gram panchayat offices.

Unfinished Work

However, going by the track record of this government, the move does not appear to work at the field level as in the last one year, the government did nothing to set up solar panels on government buildings.

In fact, the Congress government could not even complete the programme to install rooftop solar panels on government schools across the State initiated by the previous BRS government.

Apart from this, a large section of people who have installed rooftop solar panels on their residences are complaining that though they have opted to get payments for the additional solar power supplied to the grid, they are not being paid in time.

The people argue that on one hand, the government claimed that it wanted to encourage installation of solar panels on all the residential buildings while on the other, the Discom officials were creating hurdles for interested consumers by delaying the process.

People are blaming authorities of the government departments concerned for hindering the success of the clean energy programme.

Self-help groups

In the new policy, the government claims that it will support women’s self-help groups to establish solar power plants with capacities ranging from 500 kilowatts to 2 MW.

However, recently it has been noticed that the State government has designed the tenders in such a way for installing 1,000 MW solar power plants across Telangana through self-help groups (SHGs) under the Indira Mahila Shakti Scheme, that it is likely to benefit only big companies such as Adani Group.

The Congress government has been talking about setting up floating solar plants on reservoirs but so far nothing much has been done. It has not even conducted a study to implement the project.

The government has made tall claims in the new clean and green energy policy, but how far it will be implemented at the ground level has to be seen.