Sun and heat-friendly Dimapur city is one of the two “cities,” the other being Kohima town, which the Government of India has selected as a ‘Solar City’ (also ‘Green City’), under the ‘solar city scheme.’
For some strange reasons, only Kohima town has been touted widely – even by government sources – as the urban area in Nagaland chosen for the scheme in the 11th Plan Period, giving rise to popular perception that the capital was the only one selected. The ‘Solar City Scheme’ of the Government of India envisages to mitigate the problems of increasing energy output and to provide alternative energy solutions for industrial and commercial establishments.
Both issued sanctions For fact, the Media had highlighted opinions even recently that Dimapur, and not Kohima, is the most feasible urban establishment from which the scheme would be able to generate maximum mileage; that the city should have been chosen not Kohima. Web resources of the state government dating till the summer of 2011 and even recent newspaper reports in Nagaland have little or no mention at all of Dimapur being selected as a ‘solar city.’
Interestingly, even legislators are also apparently yet to highlight Dimapur, except in a very recent press release issued by the department of New & Renewable Energy, Nagaland. In it was a one-off mention of Dimapur as a solar city but without elaboration.
Records associated with the scheme obtained from the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, show that both Dimapur and Kohima are in fact already identified and approved, in-principal, as ‘solar cities.’ Even more interestingly, the annual report stating a January 2011 revision of the scheme says that both Kohima and Dimapur have already been sanctioned the funds and not only the former alone. Details of the funds allotted were not mentioned.
According to the report, ‘in-principle’ approval has been given to 14 cities during the year making a total of 48 cities namely, Agra, Moradabad, Rajkot, Gandhinagar, Surat, Nagpur, Kalyan-Dombiwali, Thane, Nanded, Aurangabad, Indore, Gwalior, Bhopal, Imphal, Kohima, Dimapur, Dehradun, Haridwar-Rishikesh, Chamoli-Gopeshwar, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Coimbatore, Vijaywada, Bilaspur, Raipur, Agartala, Guwahati, Jorhat, Hubli, Mysore, Thiruvananthapuram, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Ajmer, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bhubaneswar, Aizawl, Panaji city and environs, Itanagar, Hamirpur, Shimla, Howrah, Kochi, Rewa, SAS Nagar Mohali and Shirdi for developing them as Solar Cities.
Further, the report said sanctions have been issued for 17 cities during the year making a total of 31 cities namely Agra, Moradabad, Rajkot, Gandhinagar, Nagpur, Kalyan-Dombiwali, Kohima, Aizawl, Dimapur Dehradun, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Thane, Panaji City and environs, Bilaspur, Raipur, Imphal, Itanagar, Jodhpur, Jorhat, Guwahati, Agartala, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Shimla, Hamirpur, Haridawar and Rishikesh, Vijaywada, Aizawl, Mysore, Hubli and Gwalior. Funds for preparation of their Master Plans have been released which is under progress.
Confirmation of the financial details given in the ministry’s notes could not be had from government officials in Nagaland at the time of filing this new report.
Only Kohima, along with 10 other cities, has prepared the draft Master Plan but has yet to be finalized, the report says. Up to Rs. 50 lakh for each city is provided for preparation of the Master Plan (up to Rs. 10 lakh), setting up of Solar City Cell in the city (up to Rs. 10 lakh) oversight of its implementation (up to Rs. 10 lakh) and organizing other promotional activities (up to Rs. 20 lakh).
