"Inaugurate and Forget" : Goa Solar Rooftop Project also headed this way.

Half of the empanelled installers are from outside the state, and CM Sawant aims to generate 15,000 jobs from renewable energy sector?

Goa Solar Rooftop Portal was inaugurated with great fanfare by Chief Minister of Goa, Pramod Sawant on 31st March 2023, Friday.

The grand plan is to generate 80 MW of Solar Power from Panjim City alone, and make it a "Solar City".

Also, to make Goa 100% renewable energy powered by 2050.

The launch was so much hyped that even Prime Minister of India, lauded the efforts in a tweet.

But like, most of the initiatives, if not all, undertaken by Government of Goa, it's "inaugurate and forget".

It's been 18 days since launch and there has been no update from the Goa Electricity Department or for that matter GEDA (Goa Energy Development Agency) about how many citizens of Goa have availed of the facility.

In fact, the launch itself was not perfect, with the "security certificate" of the site, having expired on 25th October 2022 itself, and till date has not been renewed.Imagine, this is a project which has been lauded himself by the PM of India.

While the site earlier had a security exception boldly listed by the browser, it has been rectified till date, and one can at least visit the site, without managing the exception.

The site itself has been prepared by a private enterprise from Gujarat AHA Solar , while such capability already exists with government enterprises like NIC.

The funny thing is that agency which is supposed to make Goa 100% renewable energy powered, is still 20 years behind. GEDA is still using a Yahoo Email Address, in 2023.

Also, half of the empanelled installers are from outside the state.

If they have been empanelled it means, some sort of business would be provided to them, and it seems, there would be Pin-Code wise demarcation for each installer. Or it could be done automatically, at the back-end, depending on the number of interests received.

So,essentially not all business would go to businessmen from Goa. This is at the time, when the unemployment rate is very high in the state of Goa.

The Chief Minister had also stated that such renewable energy initiatives would generate 15,000 jobs over the course of years. If half other empanelled installers are from outside the state, it is a good question to ponder, how these jobs would be created?

Government of Goa is prone to announcing grand schemes for grabbing headlines, but then, both the ministers as well as department heads seem to forget about them. Unless, the progress is measured and evolved; while 2050 is 27 years far, the solar project would remain a pipe-dream.