CM orders scaling up of solar water purifiers, fans in govt primary schools

With the assembly election in Uttar Pradesh around the corner, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday directed officials to expedite the installation of solar powered water purifiers and fans in primary schools in the state. He also said laxity in implementing the projects will invite action against the concerned officials.

On Wednesday, a government spokesman said the project to install solar photovoltaic units in primary schools has received national level recognition and that the Government of India had, in 2015-16,awarded it in the ‘Best Innovation’ category. The spokesman also said 1.41 lakh primary schools in the state, 95% of which are located in rural UP, are entitled to potable water solar units that power fans and lights. To facilitate better education infrastructure in rural UP, the CM has asked for the installation of 1.1 kw solar plant units in these primary schools.

Each solar unit is meant to power five fans, one DC submersible pump and one Reverse Osmosis based water purifying system to supply 50 litres of water per hour. Under this scheme, an overhead tank of one thousand litres is also to be been installed. The state spokesman said the institutions installing the plant will be responsible for their maintenance and upkeep for five years. In the first phase, as a pilot project in 2014-15, these plants have already been set up in 112 primary schools in Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Kannauj, Sonbhadra and Etawah.

The government is currently scaling up the project in 200 primary schools of 10 districts including the seven districts of Bundelkhand, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra and Auraiyya. Seeing the success of the scheme, the CM has also ordered the setting up of more solar photovoltaic units in another 100 primary schools in Bundelkhand, Mirzapur, Kannauj and Sonbhadra.

Source:TOI