Modi assails PM for ignoring his suggestion on solar energy

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday flayed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for ignoring his suggestion that India should take lead in the solar energy sector.

“I had written to the prime minister some four or five years ago that our country should take the lead in solar power sector by launching a movement on the concept of Sun-Son, but there has been no reply from the PM so far,” Modi, said while speaking at the India Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) conclave here.

“I had suggested that like some Asia Pacific countries who have formed small groups for research and development in solar energy, we should also take lead and form such groups in India to create a movement," Modi said.

The Sun-Son concept suggested by Modi talked of collaboration by all the countries having plenty of sunlight to create a R&D fund to exploit solar energy and starting of a capital subsidy scheme for generation of solar energy.

Meanwhile, Modi announced that the state government was in the process of drafting a new policy for geo-thermal, a non-conventional energy yet to be tapped from deep down the earth in a big way so far. Gujarat has been identified amongst the potential states by the Union ministry of new and renewable energy for setting up geo-thermal power plants.