Gujarat to spend Rs 25,000 cr to address climate change

MoS energy says govt to spend Rs 50 cr on rooftop solar project on houses during next financial year

In its attempt to address challenges of climate change, the Gujarat government has announced it will be spending Rs 25,000 crore in next 10 years. For this, the state government stated all its departments will contribute towards addressing climate change related issues.

Minister of State for Energy and petrochemicals Govind Patel in his address in state assembly on Monday said the state government has proposed Rs 2,116 crore on climate change for the year 2016-17 and this amount will be spent by various departments including agriculture, forest and energy.

"Climate change is the most discussed issue at this time across the world. Gujarat government has formed climate change department that is working on various issues. But now other departments of the state government will also join this activity and the state will spend Rs 25,000 crore to address the various problems related to it," Patel said.

 

Informing the assembly Govind Patel stated the departments of agriculture and forest department were working on issues like reduction in methane gas and water harvesting, which would help in addressing climate change.

"Gujarat government will spend Rs 50 crore on rooftop solar project in housing in next financial year that will produce 80 million units of renewable power in the state and decrease use of coal by 60,000 tonnes," Patel further said.

Moreover, the state government will install rooftop solar system in government buildings at 109 talukas of 33 districts in Gujarat.

Meanwhile, to strengthen the Gujarat State Wide Area Network (GSWAN), department of science and technology will increase bandwidth speed of the network to 500 mbps from current 34 mbps in districts and for taluka level, bandwidth will increase from 10 mbps to 200 mbps.