NTPC Farakka organised ‘Bijli Mahotsav’ in Malda in the presence of PM Modi

Md Nawaj Shorif, Malda: As part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, NTPC Farakka, under the Ministry of Power and New and Renewable Energy’, organized ‘Bijli Mahotsav’ on 30th July at Rabindra Bhawan, Pubarun Township (PTS), Malda.

The Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined the celebration through video call to interact with the local population. Chief Guest, Shri Sanjiv Kumar, GGM Farakka was present at the event, accompanied by Shri
Yatendra Kumar, DRM Malda and Smt. Maya Singh, President of Udita Ladies Club.

To engage with the visitors and guests, various cultural programmers, nukkad nataks on ‘Bijli Bachao’ and ‘Village Electrification’ and screening of short films on the power sector were organized.

Several beneficiaries shared their experiences with the crowd in the event at Malda. Shri Tajimuddin Ahmad, teacher of Beniagram Basic School and Shri Mujaffar Ahmad, headmaster, Simultala High School, presented their experience of the benefits brought by the prevalence of Electricity in the lives of their students.

Sudipta Saha, and Soumik Gupto, students of Birnagar High School also shared their thoughts on the importance of electricity in their lives. The Hon’ble Prime Minister also launched the Ministry of Power’s flagship Reform Based Distribution Sector Scheme which is aimed at improving the operational efficiencies and financial sustainability of Distribution Companies. With an outlay of Rs.3,03,758 crore over a period of five years from FY 2021-22 to FY 2025-26, the scheme aims to provide financial assistance to DISCOMs for modernization and strengthening of distribution infrastructure, aiming at improvement of the reliability and quality of supply to end consumers. It is also proposed to provide 25 crore Smart Prepaid meters to consumers all over the country.

The PM also launched the national portal for Rooftop solar, which will enable online tracking of the process of installation of rooftop solar plants, starting from registering the applications to release of subsidy in residential consumers’ (‘beneficiaries’) bank account after installation and inspection of the plant. The estimated capacity under the national solar rooftop program is 4000 MW. This will be a major step towards
realising the solar rooftop potential of the nation and will contribute towards India’s target to produce 500 GW energy through non-fossil fuels committed in COP-26.

The Hon’ble Prime Minister also dedicated two floating solar power projects 100MW Ramagundam in Telangana and 92MW Kayamkulam in Kerala which are the 2 largest such floating solar plants with more than 7.5 lakh ‘Made in India’ Solar Modules floating on water. Hon’ble Prime Minister also laid foundation stone for three key green energy projects of NTPC- 735 MW Nokh Solar Project in Rajasthan, Green Hydrogen Mobility Project in Leh and Kawas Helium Blending with Natural Gas project in Gujarat. The Green Hydrogen Mobility Project is the first deployment of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) for public use in India. All these 5 projects are estimated to be Rs 5000 Crores.