Ex-top bureaucrat recalls PM Modi's 'out-of-box idea' on scaling up rooftop solar scheme

New Delhi, June 11 The PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, originally conceived as a rooftop solar scheme, was a landmark initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year to transform the country’s energy landscape for providing free electricity to millions of households.

While the ambitious scheme has achieved a big milestone of more than 10 lakh installations within a year of launch, Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, former Union Secretary who oversaw the launch of the project, narrated how it got an impetus after Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed a unique idea for its countrywide roll-out.

Modi Story, a popular social media handle on X, shared the video of Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, who was in charge of the rooftop solar scheme project, and how PM Modi’s suggestions marked a 360-degree change in its blueprint.

In the video, Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, Former Union Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy recalls the consultations and deliberations before launching the project and also how PM Modi’s advice during finalising the rooftop solar scheme came as a surprise to all, eventually leading the 'solar power' team to include his suggestions for bigger and wider roll-out.

“I have had the opportunity to interact with Prime Minister Narendra Modi several times while making presentations on schemes. We were planning to launch the rooftop solar scheme, which later came to be known as the PM Surya Ghar scheme,” the ex-top bureaucrat said in the video.

“We made 3-4 presentations before the Prime Minister. When we were giving the final presentation, one of the models we pitched was on how to capture a rooftop solar system and how to allow customers to evaluate how much they can produce on their roof,” he added.

“It was then that the PM Modi asked -- Can't we integrate with the Gati Shakti scheme?” he disclosed, and also said that this was a remarkable suggestion from him, as this idea never passed through the minds of people who designed the project.

Sharing his video, Modi story also wrote, “PM Narendra Modi doesn’t just think outside the box, he redesigns the whole system, like a 360 degree blueprint.”

“Even a single rooftop panel, in his view, should plug into the nation’s larger infrastructure and digital ecosystem,” it added.

Notably, PM Gati Shakti is a national master plan for multi-nodal connectivity, essentially a digital platform to bring 16 Ministries, including Railways and Roadways, together for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects.

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