A cross-party group of MPs has written to finance minister P Chidambaram, asking him to incorporate fiscal measures for renewable energy in the upcoming Union Budget so that the targets set in the National Action Plan of Climate Change are met fully.
Under the banner of ‘Climate Parliament’, the MPs have also emphasised that sufficient Budget allocation is crucial for a time-bound development of transmission network and grid infrastructure for renewable energy absorption and supply, in tandem with the renewable energy capacity addition plans in the country. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjay Jaiswal (BJP), Jhansi Lakshmi Botcha, JD Seelam (Congress), Jayant Chaudhary (RLD) and Thomas Sangma (NCP) are among the Parliamentarians in the group.
The actual budget allocated to the ministry of new and renewable energy in 2012-13 was 50% of the budget suggested by the Planning Commission and 25% of the budget proposed by the ministry. “Thus, some of the key programmes of the Ministry under the first phase of the National Solar Mission have faced serious setbacks due to lack of adequate budget,” they said.
The MPs said there must be adequate budget allocation to the power ministry, specifically for strengthening the transmission network for renewable energy in light of the report ‘Green Corridors’ carried out by Power Grid Corporation where it estimates a requirement of R42,000 crore for establishing the intra and interstate transmission for renewable energy.
