Speaking at Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Divas-2009 celebrations organised by the State Environment Department at Delhi Secretariat, the Chief Minister said that to promote use of renewable energy sources, her government had also been giving a grant of Rs.6,000 on purchase of solar water heater to individuals.

The Chief Minister said use of the solar water heating system had been made mandatory in industries, hospitals, nursing homes, hotels, canteens and residential buildings having an area of 500 square metres or more. Besides it is also essential for colleges, hostels and technical and vocational colleges to have these systems on which a subsidy of 60 per cent is provided.

The Delhi Government, Ms. Dikshit said, had also been encouraging construction of green buildings, especially for the upcoming Commonwealth Games. Climate change, fast depleting groundwater level and increasing use of power were the major challenges, Ms. Dikshit.

As part of the Urja Divas celebrations, a regular feature since 2004 on the birth anniversary of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, various competitions such as essay writing, paintings, quiz and poster-making were also held on the theme of “Renewable Energy Resource”.

Later Ms. Dikshit presented cash awards worth Rs.25,000, Rs.20,000 and Rs.15,000 each to the students who bagged the first, second and third prizes in the essay and poster competition respectively. Three consolation prizes of Rs. 5,000 each were also presented in both these categories.

In the poster competition, Rashmi Kapoor of Adarsh Public School, Vikaspuri, bagged the first prize, Kritika Yadav of St. Cecilia Public School finished second, and Anurag Singh of Sarvodaya Boys School, Chand Nagar, bagged the third spot.

In the essay competition, Soumya Mehndiratta of Hansraj Model School stood first, Soumya Jain of St. Cecilia Public School came second, while Arushi Jain of Adarsh Public School secured the third spot.