CHANDIGARH: With the deadline ending for the installation of the mandatory rooftop solar power plants on houses set up in 500 sq yards or more, around 820 homeowners have applied for the installation, and the installation has already been completed in around 270 houses.
The UT estate office on Sept 6 had issued resumption notices to more than 4,000 homeowners having a plot size of 500 sq yard or more for not installing the rooftop solar plants.
“The applications are still being submitted for the installation, and we are expecting the number of applications to increase. In the span of around a week, as the deadline approached, around 200 applications were received by the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST),” said a UT official.
The UT estate office had given a two-month window for the installation of the solar panels, or the plots were to be resumed.
Later, on the directions of the UT administrator, some relief was offered to the homeowners with the administration allowing relaxation for those who had applied for the installation during the notice period.
Of the total 6,408 houses of one kanal and above area, only 1,867 had completed installation before the resumption notices were issued by the administration.
During the meeting of the state-level coordination committee constituted for ‘PM Suryaghar: Muft Bijali Yozna’ on Sept 4, UT adviser Rajeev Verma expressed concern regarding the lower number of registrations under the scheme in Chandigarh.
In a bid to address the issue of poor response, the adviser had directed the deputy commissioner-cum-estate officer, UT, Chandigarh to take strict action against the defaulters and issue property resumption notices to the homeowners who have failed to comply with the mandate to install solar power plants with a plot size of 500 square yards and above.
The decision of the administration to issue notices had elicited strong opposition from the resident groups and political leaders, including city MP Manish Tewari. They have cited financial constraints and some provisions of building bylaws for people not able to install the rooftop solar plants.
A senior UT official said, “Multiple extensions had already been given in the past. Last & final time extension was given till March 2021. More than three-and-a-half years have also passed since the last extension. Now, GoI is running a good scheme ‘PM Surya Ghar- Muft Bijli Yojana’ for subsidy on solar rooftop systems. People should avail that scheme.”
