Aiming to make Agartala an environmentally safe city, the Tripura government is preparing a report to make use of solar energy mandatory by owners of buildings.

The present building rules would be changed to make use of solar energy compulsory in buildings to reduce dependence on conventional energy, Tripura Science, Technology and Environment Minister Joy Gobinda Debroy said.

“The rules would be applicable to private, government and commercial buildings,” Debroy said.

With the Centre suggesting that Northeastern state capitals should be included among 60 cities in the country to be turned into solar energy hotspots, Debroy said the state government had started preparing a detailed project report.

A survey would be undertaken in Agartala soon, he said.

Meanwhile, the Tripura Natural Gas Co Ltd (TNGCL), a joint venture between the Gas Authority of India Ltd and Tripura and Assam Government, has announced a plan to run all vehicles in the city with CNG by 2013.

CNG will also be available to those now using electricity, petrol and diesel to run machinery in factories.

TNGCL is currently supplying piped natural gas (PNG) to over 7,416 domestic consumers and 155 commercial establishments and industrial units in Agartala and its outskirts besides hospitals and crematoriums, its chairman Pabitra Kar said.

Kar said the company would soon provide PNG connections to 10,000 new domestic consumers here.

The Agartala Municipal Council has made an Rs 452.32 crore-master plan to make Agartala a “solar city”. The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy would bear 90 per cent of the cost and the remaining 10 per cent would be borne by the state government in the next three years.

The Transport department has already introduced 70 CNG-run buses and CNG kits would be fitted to those vehicles run either by petrol or by diesel.

“About four lakh people live in the city, but the density of automobiles in this city is higher than many big cities in the country,” state Transport and Urban Development Minister Manik Dey said.

There are over 200,000 various types of vehicles, including 4,500 auto-rickshaws, plying in the city and many such auto-rickshaws are now fitted with CNG kits, he said.

“At present there are three CNG stations and we having a plan to set up more such stations. PNG connections would be given to additional 10,000 households within six months,” Kar said.

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