Former President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam made a strong plea for tapping solar energy and asked school students here to be ambassadors of the non-conventional source of energy. Hundreds of students repeated a pledge he read out to them to be bearers of the messages of energy conservation and spreading of awareness about non-conventional sources of energy.
Dr. Kalam was launching a State-wide energy conservation programme Energy Smart CBSE Schools being jointly organised by Kerala Energy Management Centre, State Electricity Board and CBSE School Managements’ Association.
He said that every home in India should be turned into solar homes as he pointed out that there were 200 million homes in the country and the solar energy drive would make a big difference to the country’s energy scene.
In Kerala, which had a population of 3.3 crore, there were around seven million houses.
These houses had to be turned into solar homes to meet the current energy crisis, the former President said.
He quoted the example of Gujarat, which had launched a strong solar energy drive with a solar energy park in the State leading the way for tapping the non-conventional source of energy.
He said that the project, which came up on a public-private partnership basis took only 11 months to become a reality.
The former President also gave away the prizes to the winning schools in the campaign for conservation of energy in the State.
Dharesan Unnithan, director of EMC, Kerala, welcomed the gathering. Minister for power Aryadan Mohammed, president of Kerala CBSE School Management Association Ibrahim Khan, its secretary Indira Rajan, Benny Behnan, MLA and the Chairman of Thrikkakara Municipality P. A. Mohammedali were among those who spoke on the occasion.
