Govt to harness green energy: CM

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today said the state government was considering promoting hydropower tourism to offer self-employment and employment opportunities to the local youth.

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“A policy would be formulated in this regard and training would be imparted to power project developers through the Department of Energy,” the Chief Minister said while reviewing the progress of various ongoing projects of the Department of Energy. He said the government was working diligently to harness green energy and one MW Green Hydrogen project was being built at Nalagarh in district Solan.

“A 32 MW Solar Power project at Pekhubela in Una district had been commissioned in record six months while two more such projects are under construction in Una district,” he said.

Sukhu issued directions to expedite the ongoing power projects and said that non-responsive hydro projects would be re-advertised. He directed the HPSEBL to commence construction work of Devi Kothi and Hail Power Projects immediately.

He also reviewed the high-stake cases pending in the courts such as JSW, Shanan and pending arrears of the BBMB and directed the concerned officers to pursue these cases vigorously. He also instructed to speed up the pump storage projects. Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan was also attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister issued directions for the formulation of a comprehensive policy for employment on compassionate grounds. This makes it clear that the government intends to settle all pending cases in one go.

Sukhu, while reviewing the policy at a high-level meeting, directed the officers concerned to compile and present the data according to department, age and educational qualification of the applicants seeking employment on compassionate grounds and present it in the next meeting on January 10.

He said that the government was adopting a liberal and sympathetic approach to offer employment in the government sector to those who had lost their family members while they were in service. “The state government is committed to looking after the well-being of dependents by giving preference to widows and orphans in providing employment on compassionate grounds,” he added.

The Chief Minister said that the government had constituted a Cabinet sub-committee under the chairmanship of Education Minister Rohit Thakur to examine the matter of compassionate appointments.