Chandigarh, Mar 25 (PTI) The Punjab government is mulling over incentivizing farmers to produce surplus solar energy through solar pumps installed for agriculture use, New and Renewable Energy Sources minister Aman Arora informed state assembly on Tuesday.

He was replying to a question raised by Naresh Puri, MLA from Sujanpur Assembly constituency during the question hour in Punjab Assembly here.

Arora said this move would empower the state farmers, besides bolstering the renewable energy sector and contribute to a sustainable future of the state.

Under this proposed policy, farmers would be compensated for excess solar energy generated beyond their own consumption needs.

This surplus energy will be fed into the grid, contributing to the state's energy supply and reducing reliance on traditional fossil fuels for a greener and more sustainable Punjab, he said.

"By empowering farmers to become active participants in the renewable energy sector, we are not only promoting clean energy but also creating new economic opportunities for our farmers," said Arora while adding that the state-owned Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) will install 20,000 solar pumps for agriculture purposes and out of which, over 5,000 solar pumps have already been allocated to the farmers in the state.

Arora also shared that 4,474 government buildings have been equipped with rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) panels with a capacity of 34 MW solar.

These rooftop solar panels are generating over 4.90 crore units of electricity annually. Further, the PEDA has planned 100 MW capacity solar power plants to be set up on the government buildings in the next two financial years.

He further highlighted that the grid connected rooftop solar PV power plants generate power at the consumer point, which helps reduce network losses in distribution.

The electricity generated also aids in bridging the demand and supply gap, enabling the state-owned power utility to meet its renewable purchase obligation targets as specified by the Electricity Regulatory Commissions.

The PV grid connected systems generate power during the daytime and feed excess power back into the grid, he added.

Meanwhile, Rural Development and Panchayats Minister, Tarunpreet Singh Sond said an FIR has been registered at Police Station Ferozepur City after a departmental investigation revealed the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 1.80 crore from grants received under the 15th Finance Commission and allocated to Block Samiti Ferozepur.

He further informed that the case has been handed over to the vigilance department.

While replying to a question raised by Congress MLA Partap Singh Bajwa, Sond stated that the FIR has been registered at police station Ferozepur City against Kirandeep Kaur, the Block Development and Panchayat Officer, Jaswinder Kaur , then then Chairperson of Panchayat Samiti Ferozepur and four others Manjinder Singh (data entry operator, e-Panchayat), Rekha Devi (data entry operator, e-Panchayat), Shubhdeepak Bajaj (data entry operator, e-Panchayat), and Jaspreet Kaur (data entry operator, e-Panchayat).

He also informed that the instructions have been given to terminate the services of Manjinder Singh and Jaspreet Kaur.

In addition to this, it has also been instructed to issue a notice to the Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), Ferozepur, who has been instructed to recover the funds from the responsible employees.

Punjab Transport minister Laljit Singh Bhullar said the state government is committed to starting government bus service on every route of the state.

Responding to a question raised by MLA Neena Mittal, Bhullar said the state government is committed to introducing government bus service on those routes where it is currently unavailable.

He said the department will also consider starting government bus service on specific routes based on public demand.

The minister assured to consider starting bus services for various villages in the Rajpura constituency and stated that the state government is already operating government bus services on routes from Rajpura to Manakpur via Jansuya, Jansui, Mirzapur, and Area Manakpur, as well as from Chandigarh to Manakpur via Rajpura, Jansuya, Jansui, Mirzapur, Area Manakpur, Abravan etc.

Bhullar said at present, Pepsu Road Transport Corporation is running 290 buses of different categories under the kilometer scheme.

Speaking during the Zero Hour, Congress MLA from Shahkot, Hardev Singh Laddi, chided the AAP government over the issue of health facilities, complaining about lack of the health staff in the government hospital in his constituency. PTI CHS NB NB