Praises solar energy initiatives: At Modhera, Guterres criticises India for fossil fuel subsidies
Earlier too, the UN chief had criticised India for its fossil fuel subsidies that he said were nearly seven times more than those provided for clean energy.
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UN chief Antonio Guterres. (File)Voicing his resentment against India providing fossil fuel subsidies, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Thursday said less support should be handed out to companies that are making huge profits.
“Instead of subsidising things, it is necessary to subsidise people. India today, in one of the most expanded programmes of social welfare in the world, provides hundreds of millions of families with financial support. So, this is the right thing to do to provide more and more support to the families in need and less and less support that benefit companies that are today making huge profits around the world,” Guterres said during his visit to Modhera’s famous Sun Temple in Mehsana.
Earlier too, the UN chief had criticised India for its fossil fuel subsidies that he said were nearly seven times more than those provided for clean energy.
He also noted that a green economy would be the solution to India’s air pollution. “The truth is that the green economy is not only good for the planet but it is good for the health and being good for the health saves lives. Polluting cities are killing 7 million people in the world every year; so, it is our duty to rescue them, it’s our duty to fight pollution to preserve biodiversity and fight climate change,” he added.
During his interaction with villagers of Modhera, the country’s first 24X7 solar powered village, Guterres hailed the Sun Temple and expressed his gratitude to the villagers for returning to the solar energy. He called the villagers “the soldiers on the first line” who are fighting the battle to rescue our planet.
“Unfortunately, we have not been preserving this gift (the Sun). In the past decades, we have been at war with nature. We have been destroying our planet and what is amazing and what we must thank in an emotional way to the people of this village and governments of Gujarat and India is that here there is a reconciliation between humankind and the planet,” he stated.
Calling the solar village of Modhera the ‘new Sun temple’ he said the solar energy is transforming lives of this village, making them more healthy, bringing prosperity as well as contributing to rescue the planet from climate change.
During his interaction with the villagers at the Sun Temple, Ichhaben Patel, one of the beneficiaries of the solar energy initiative, stated that the electricity bill, which earlier used to be around Rs 1,500-Rs 2,000 for two months, has become zero now.
“We deposit the saved money in banks and spend it for the education of our children. Modhera village has now become a model village and is visited by so many people across the world and become a golden village. Solar panels have been put up everywhere, atop rich and poor houses,” she told the visiting delegate.
Manjulaben Prajapati, who resides in the vicinity of the temple, said with the solar energy, not only are they getting 24X7 electricity but also using more devices such as AC and refrigerator.
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