Delays In Subsidy Disbursal Mar PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana

New Delhi, Dec 30 (KNN) The PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, launched earlier this year, is experiencing delays in subsidy disbursement even as the government aims to accelerate solar installations nationwide.

According to a recent Lok Sabha Standing Committee report, only 4.8 lakh installations have been completed out of 20 lakh applications received by October, with subsidy payments reaching just 2.8 lakh households, representing 58.3 per cent of completed installations.

Ministry officials attributed some slowdown to the monsoon season but maintained that daily installation capacity remains between 3,000 to 3,500 units.

The government has set an ambitious target of 12 lakh installations for the current fiscal year. Officials noted significant progress in recent months, with daily connections increasing from 3,500 to approximately 9,000, alongside ongoing efforts in vendor registration and training.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has been actively coordinating with key stakeholders, including REC Ltd, power distribution companies, and vendors, to address implementation challenges.

The Standing Committee has urged the ministry to enhance scheme promotion, particularly emphasising the subsidy component to attract more consumers.

In its recommendations, the Committee suggested expanding the scheme's scope beyond households and government buildings to include schools, hospitals, small industries, and other institutional buildings.

This expansion, they argue, would stimulate market demand, attract private investment, boost domestic manufacturing, and create additional employment opportunities in the solar sector.

The scheme's performance follows a pattern of underutilisation in India's solar initiatives. The Committee's report reveals that despite a national solar potential of 748,990 MWp, installations as of August 31 reached only 89,432 MW.

The PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, launched on February 13, 2024, aims to install rooftop solar plants in one crore households by 2026-27, with a total financial outlay of Rs 75,021 crore. For FY24-25, the scheme has been allocated Rs 13,175.33 crore.

The initiative is projected to generate approximately one lakh crore units of electricity while reducing CO2 emissions by 72 crore tonnes.

The government has significantly increased the new and renewable energy ministry's budget allocation to Rs 21,230 crore for 2024-25, marking a 170.51 per cent increase from the previous year's revised estimate of Rs 7,848 crore.

The scheme also includes an innovative Model Solar Villages program, where one village per district will be selected for development.

Villages achieving maximum solarisation within six months will receive central financial assistance of approximately Rs 1 crore, though ministry officials acknowledge this aspect of the program needs acceleration.

(KNN Bureau)