Jammu: The dream of India’s first “carbon neutral panchayat” has dimmed in the nondescript Palli village of border district Samba, where the Rs 2.75-crore solar power plant inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi now lies abandoned, forcing residents back into darkness whenever conventional power supply is disrupted.
The ambitious 500-KW solar project, commissioned under the Centre’s Gram Urja Swaraj programme on April 24, 2022, has gradually become a victim of administrative neglect, with authorities citing repeated thefts, lack of security and shortage of maintenance funds as reasons for its continued non-functionality.
In all 1,500 solar panels had been put up on the total area of 6,408 square metres with an aim to provide clean electricity to 340 houses in the model panchayat under the central government’s ‘Gram Urja Swaraj’ programme. Built by Central Electronics Limited (CEL), the project was completed in a record time of three weeks.
It was designed to provide clean electricity to around 340 households in the model village through the local power grid, meeting its daily electricity requirement of nearly 2,000 units.
However, the solar facility now presents a grim picture of neglect. The panels are covered with wild grass while the project remains abandoned after thieves repeatedly stole DC cables and other electrical components from the isolated site deep inside the village.
Officials claimed the solar plant has been lying non-functional for over four months after the latest incident of electricity cable theft. They admitted that despite repairing the project twice in recent years by spending lakhs of rupees, repeated thefts have rendered the investment futile.
Authorities further claimed that they took up the matter with the concerned police officers for deployment of security personnel at the project site but it (project) did not find the priority of the police officers concerned, leaving the mega project vulnerable to further thefts.
“The solar plant was inaugurated with great fanfare by the Prime Minister, but it required regular maintenance and monitoring, which never happened. We remained a carbon-neutral panchayat only for a few months. Today, the project stands abandoned, exposing official apathy and wastage of taxpayers’ money,” said a villager, who declined to be identified.
Another villager, Raj Kumar (name changed), questioned the authorities’ handling of the project and demanded a thorough inquiry to fix accountability. “How could the authorities allow a project of such national prestige, inaugurated by the Prime Minister himself, to fall into neglect? They owe the public an explanation, and those responsible for failing to maintain the project must be held accountable,” he said.
When contacted, Executive Engineer, Jammu Power Development Corporation Limited (JPDCL) Vijaypur, Shiv Raj Sharma said the department’s role was limited to providing grid connectivity to the project.
“The plant has remained defunct after thieves stole the electricity cables. Local administrative officers as well as officials from the company that installed the project visited the site, but no concrete action followed. Our responsibility was only to provide grid connectivity to the solar project,” he said.
Talking to The News Now, Parul Khajuria, Block Development Officer (BDO) Bari Brahmana admitted that the solar plant had remained non-functional for the last “few months” but quickly added that the matter had been taken up with the department which installed it (CEL).
“We are still awaiting their response and hope the project shall be restored and made functional after the monsoon season,” she said, adding that the repeated complaints had also been lodged with the police over thefts at the site.
“We requested deployment of policemen for security and also sought follow-up action on the FIRs registered in connection with the thefts, but we have not received the desired response so far,” she said.
The BDO added that the theft of DC cables and other critical equipment from the isolated project site had made restoration costly. “We require a substantial amount to restart the project. It has been made functional twice in recent times, and during the last repair alone, lakhs of rupees were spent,” the BDO said.
Pertinently, Palli Panchayat had hogged the limelight in April 2022 after being declared the country’s first “carbon-neutral Panchayat”, symbolising the Centre’s push for renewable energy and sustainable rural development. At that time, the village, which has 450 houses, were given solar ‘Chulhas’ (stoves) and all the houses were projected to be covered by the next phase after the Prime Minister’s visit.
