Chandigarh Administration to hold meeting with stakeholders as Centre flags tardy PM Surya Ghar scheme

Chandigarh’s performance under the Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana has come under scrutiny with the Central government flagging its slow progress in the private residential sector.

To address the issue, the UT Administration and Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST) have convened a meeting with residents welfare associations (RWAs) at Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, Sector 26, on December 1, aiming to accelerate rooftop solar uptake across private households.

The meeting will bring together representatives of all RWAs under Federation of Sectors Welfare Association of Chandigarh (FOSWAC) and Chandigarh Residents’ Associations Welfare Federation (CRAWFED). It will be chaired by the Secretary, Science, Technology and Renewable Energy, and attended by the Municipal Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner. Residents are expected to raise queries and concerns regarding the installation process, technical requirements and subsidy components of the scheme.

According to officials, Chandigarh has achieved 100% solar installation on government buildings, but adoption on private residential structures remains significantly slow. This lag was highlighted in several high-level review meetings held by Central ministries, where the city’s performance was deemed unsatisfactory. The Administration believes that direct engagement with stakeholders is essential to resolve operational challenges and speed up implementation.

Last year, the city’s electricity services were privatised and the responsibility of executing the Central scheme was assigned to Chandigarh Power Distribution Limited (CPDL). Officials expect the upcoming meeting to help identify bottlenecks and streamline coordination with the CPDL and CREST.

Key agenda points for the meeting include a detailed assessment of progress so far, identifying administrative and ground-level hurdles, reviewing the CPDL’s performance, and charting out a time-bound action plan. The Administration is likely to discuss awareness gaps among residents and ways to improve confidence in rooftop solar systems.

Under the scheme, the Central government offers a subsidy of Rs 78,000 for installing a 3 kW plant, which costs around Rs 1.56 lakh. The UT Administration has also sent a proposal to the Ministry of Home Affairs seeking additional subsidy support to encourage faster adoption. A 3 kW plant typically generates 250–300 units of electricity per month, significantly reducing household energy bills. The Administration has set an ambitious target of covering all private buildings with rooftop solar power panels by the end of 2026.