Seven PM Surya Ghar beneficiaries from Odisha to attend Republic Day celebration in Delhi

Berhampur: Seven beneficiaries of PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijlee Yojana from Odisha's Ganjam district will be attending as special guests the Republic Day parade at Kartavya Path in New Delhi on January 26, an official said on Thursday.

The beneficiaries have installed rooftop solar panel under the scheme and made the best use of the government's flagship programme.

PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijlee Yojana is a central scheme that aims to provide free electricity to one crore households in India, who opt to install rooftop solar electricity unit. The households will be able to get 300 units of electricity free every month. They will leave Bhubaneswar on January 24 and return on January 27, after attending the parade, the official said.

The special guests invited across the country by the Central government to witness the colourful parade are from different walks of life, including the best performers in different fields and those who have made the best use of various schemes of the government, he said.

"An officer of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy informed me about the special guest in the parade at New Delhi, after they collected information about the installation of the rooftop solar panel under the PM Surya Ghar Yojana in his house at Gandhi Nagar here," said A Balakrushna (64), a retired ayurvedic officer.

He has installed a 3-KW solar system in his house under the scheme with Rs 2.25 lakh and availed Rs 75,000 subsidy from the central government.

"Now I will apply for the subsidy from the state government," he said.

Since he installed the system in June last year, he did not pay any electric charge, he claimed. Earlier, he used to pay an average of Rs 1000 per month, Balakrushna said.

Jeetendriya Mopaptra (56) of Kautik Nagar, Goshaninuagaon here, who was also invited as special guest for the Republic Day celebration, said he had installed a 2-kw solar system in his rooftop in June last year.

The cost of the project was Rs 1.35 lakh and out of it Rs 62,000 was the subsidy under the scheme.

The beneficiaries said for the protection of the environment, they have decided to switch over to the solar energy system, which is, according to them, the future source of electricity.