Commissioner/Secretary, Forests, Ecology and Environment Department, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, today launched Green Skill Development Programme (GSDP) at Department of Ecology, Environment and Remote Sensing, Jammu.Mr. Dwivedi informed that MoEF&CC has come up with the idea of Green Skill Development Programme for the benefit of unemployed youths to develop a skill without exploiting or destroying the Nature and natural resources. He highlighted the importance of the programme which will impart technical knowledge in Solar Energy Systems. He emphasized to develop such green skilled workforce having technical knowledge for greater employment opportunities and simultaneously fulfilling the obligations of sustainable development which will help in the attainment of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Earlier, B. Siddhartha Kumar, PCCF/Director, Ecology, Environment and Remote Sensing, while addressing the participants, said that the State has huge potential of Solar Energy and recognizing this, the Centre is going to build the World’s largest Solar Energy Power Plant in Jammu and Kashmir, which would be as big as 5,000 MW for Leh unit and 2,500 MW for Kargil - to be completed by 2023 at an estimated investment of Rs 45,000 crore.
The installation, operation and maintenance of such huge plants shall create an enormous demand for the skilled manpower and GSDP is one such programme which has arrived on a perfect time with employment generation potential. He further informed that the Department has applied for three more Green Skill Development Courses to MoEF&CC.Majid Farooq, Scientist cum ENVIS/GSDP Coordinator, briefed the gathering about the initiatives taken up by ENVIS Hub, and also introduced the audience to the training programme being conducted under GSDP.The training manual for the course was also released on the occasion besides distribution of training kits among the participants.Pertinently, the GSDP on “Sustain and Enhance Technical Knowledge in Solar Energy Systems” is being sponsored by union Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change, and is being organized from 17th January, 2019 to 10th March, 2019 by ENVIS HUB, Department of Ecology, Environment and Remote Sensing. The JKEDA is providing the technical guidance for successful conduct of the programme.During this program, twenty participants from different districts across the state will be imparted skill development training on different technologies being used for harnessing the solar energy as well as installation, operation and maintenance works involved in the various solar energy systems.