Govt approves plan to develop 50 solar cities

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has approved a proposed master plan to develop 50 solar cities, including three in the national capital region.

Out of the proposed 60 solar cities, sanctions have been issued for 50 cities that include New Delhi, Agra, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Amritsar, New Town (Kolkata), Howrah, Madhyamgram, Kochi and Bhopal, as per the information available on the ministry's website.

Of these 50 cities, master plans have been prepared for 46 cities, including Agra, Gandhinagar, Rajkot, Surat, Thane, Shirdi, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Imphal, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Bilaspur, Raipur, Agartala, Guwahati, Jorhat, Mysore, Shimla, Hamirpur, Jodhpur, Vijayawada, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Dehradun, Panaji and New Delhi (NDMC area), it added.

Further, in-principle approvals have been given to five cities namely Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur, Indore, Leh and Mahbubnagar, it said.

"Master plan of Indore has been prepared and the other corporations/state nodal agencies are in the process of engaging consultants for preparation of master plans," the ministry said.

The ministry had empanelled 26 consultants in June 2009 to prepare master plan for the development of solar cities.

Eight cities are to be developed as 'Model Solar Cities, the ministry said. Of these 8 cities, Nagpur, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar and Mysore have so far been picked to be developed as 'Model Solar Cities'.

Fifteen cities will be developed as 'Pilot Solar Cities'.

Of the 15 cities, the government has so far named 13 that include Agartala, Coimbatore, Rajkot, Shimla, Faridabad, Thane, Raipur, Shirdi, Leh, Aizawl, Puducherry, Vijaywada and Amritsar are being developed as Pilot Solar City, it said.