Solar panels at medical facilities in Palamu a non-starter

Daltonganj: The 80 kilowatt solar panel at the Medinirai Medical College Hospital (MMCH) in Daltonganj is non functional over the last three years and despite letters and reminders to the Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (JREDA), nothing has been done, officials rued on Wednesday.
The Medinirai medical college and hospital is attached to the Medinirai Medical College at Pokhraha.
MMCH medical superintendent Dr Dilip Kumar Singh said, “We have been writing to the JREDA to make its solar panel operational, but our complaints remain unattended all these years. It is a grid connected solar power plant in this hospital. It does not give any backup at all.”
There is a five-year comprehensive maintenance contract (CMC) with the JREDA for which the user is to pay 2% of the cost of the maintenance during this period. But, here this solar system installed in 2019 is a non-starter.
The civil surgeon office of Palamu too has a similar problem. Here, six kilowatt solar system which was fixed is non functional over the last one year or so.
Civil surgeon Dr Vijay Kumar Singh said, “The solar panel installed here is just a liability. It does not give us any light."
"We don't know why JREDA is doing like this. It seems to have no control over its empanelled agencies. JREDA has no follow up mechanism. It does not call for any feedback from its users. The users are left to languish after the installation of the multi lakh solar system," civil surgeon added.
Manoj Jaiswal, one of the officials of an empanelled agencies of JREDA, said that solar panel fails only when it is overloaded.