India needs to switch over to solar energy: Prof Solanki

Man is responsible for the huge problem of climate change impacting the world today which can only be countered by harnessing solar energy to meet all kinds of requirement, Prof. Chetan Singh Solanki, Professor in IIT, Bombay said.

Prof. Solanki, who has come to be known as ‘Solan Man’ and is on an eleven-year ‘yatra’ through different states of the country since 2020 to propagate his thoughts about energy solution, said his objective was to shift the country’s focus towards completely harnessing solar energy for all needs by 2030.

Touring Odisha at present, Prof. Solanki said he was trying to build a consensus through peoples’ movement across the country in favour of solar energy so that the worry about carbon emission could be eliminated completely. He had already covered more than 21,000 km while passing through 11 states over a period of 547 days.

He took out a rally from SOA’s headquarters at Khandagiri to its faculty of engineering, Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), on Friday and subsequently addressed students on the need to switch over to solar energy on the subject ‘Climate Change, Energy Swaraj and I’.

The Madhya Pradesh government has appointed him as ‘brand ambassador’ for the propagation of solar energy in the state.

SOA’s Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda, ITER’s Director Prof. Manas Kumar Mallick and Head of the department of Electrical Engineering, Prof. Renu Sharma were present during the interaction.