Government recently failed to specify any time-frame for start of work on two Solar Parks which were sanctioned by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy several years back. In the year 2013-14, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy sanctioned two mega solar parks-5000 MW capacity for Leh and 2500 MW capacity for Kargil keeping in view huge solar power potential available in these districts. Accordingly, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Union Government and Government of J&K. However, the work on these Solar Parks could not be started till date.
Admitting this while responding to the question of Congress MLA from Leh, Nawang Rigzin Jora, the Minister for Science and Technology, Sajad Lone said, “the work could not be started mainly because of non-availability of adequate land in both the districts (10,000 hectares in Leh and 5000 hectares in Kargil)”. “Lack of power evacuation infrastructure in Ladakh for transmission of the power so generated from the proposed Solar Parks is also the reason behind delay in start of work”, the Minister informed the House. “This means Government has no time-frame for start of work on these two prestigious projects”, Congress MLA Nawang Rigzin Jora remarked.
