“Take the lead in generating solar energy and develop requisite technology in India,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh advised Maharatna BHEL on Friday.
Referring to the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission for enhancing India's energy security, the Prime Minister asked BHEL to take the difficult but worthy commercial decision in the interest of the country. “The success of the solar mission has the potential to enhance the country’s energy security and contribute handsomely to our efforts to combat climate change, the Prime Minister said, exuding hope that the BHEL bestowed with engineering expertise, manufacturing prowess and a commendable human resource would take the lead in solar energy generation.
India would be seriously impacted by the consequences of climate change as more than 50 per cent of power came from coal-based generation. “We need to develop ways and means to reduce our carbon foot print through technological innovation,” Mr. Manmohan Singh said on Friday after dedicating to the nation BHEL's Power Plant Piping Unit (PPPU) at Tirumayam in Pudukkottai district and Unit II of High Pressure Boiler Plant in the Tiruchi Complex.
Formally commissioning the PPPU that commenced trial production early last year, the Prime Minister commended BHEL for developing ultra super critical technology in line with the country's mission to invent clean coal technologies.
Union Ministers P. Chidambaram, Praful Patel and Narayanaswamy, and Governor K. Rosaiah, and State Transport Minister Senthil Balaji attended the function.
Black flag demonstration
MDMK leader Vaiko, his party functionaries and members of various organisations were arrested in Tiruchi on Friday for staging a black flag demonstration, condemning Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress-led UPA government for “betraying Eelam Tamils.”
Mr. Vaiko and all those arrested in the city were released in the evening, police sources said.
