Hyderabad: Solar power plants will be installed on all Gram Panchayats and government buildings including the state Secretariat, Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka has said on Saturday.

The Deputy CM held a video conference with district Collectors and reviewed the implementation of Green Energy Policy under which solar power plants will be installed on all government buildings.

Bhatti instructed that plans of all district collector offices, parking areas, and canteens should be sent to Hyderabad. Since all collectorates in the state have been built in the same design, the designs required for the installation of solar power plants would be sent from Hyderabad. However, if any collectorate has better designs, the respective collectors may send them to Hyderabad.

He stated that solar power plants will be installed in all government offices across the state, from Gram Panchayat buildings to the Secretariat, to produce power on a large scale. A questionnaire related to the details required for setting up solar power plants will be sent to the collectors, and they must fill it in completely and send it to the office of the Principal Secretary for Energy within a week. Apart from government buildings, the Deputy CM directed that solar power plants should also be installed on government schools, junior colleges, degree colleges, and higher education institution buildings, and details of these buildings should be sent.

The collectors were also instructed to send details of the large vacant lands available under the jurisdiction of the Irrigation Department and the Roads & Buildings Department. The Deputy CM explained to the collectors that under the ROFR Act, 6.70 lakh acres of land were distributed by the then Congress government in agency areas, and that, under the Nallamala Declaration, the government plans to provide free solar pump sets in these lands through the Indira Solar Girijana Vikasam scheme.

As part of the Nallamala Declaration, the programme has already started in Achampet constituency, and the state government is planning to launch it in certain areas of Adilabad district this month.