Gandhinagar: Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat on Thursday, while addressing the state assembly on the first day of the budget 2024-25 session, said that Gujarat has the capacity to produce 40 lakh MT of green hydrogen production annually.
"Gujarat is capable and ready to emerge as a global leader in green hydrogen production. Recently, the state government announced Land Policy 2023 for the development of renewable energy projects and earmarked two lakh hectares of land for allotment to the developers. As a result, about 40 lakh metric tonnes of green hydrogen production capacity per year will be achieved," Devvrat informed the house.
The governor informed that the power consumption in the state is on the increase. "Average per capita electricity consumption in Gujarat was 2283 units in 2021–22, which has increased to 2402.49 units in 2022–23. Electricity is a major necessary measure for the social and economic development of any state, reflecting the state’s progress," said Devvrat.
The Gujarat governor also informed about the Gujarat government's plans to raise the power production and construction of mini power stations at different places on Vadodara, Miyagam, Saurashtra, and Kutch branch canals of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada scheme. It is planned to generate 85.46 MW of power from these stations.
Talking about the upliftment of the farmers in the state the governor said, "A total amount of Rs 15,407.82 crore has been directly deposited into the bank accounts of 64.13 lakh beneficiary farmers in 15 installments till date under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana."
"New Centres of Excellence are being set up in Ahmedabad, Jamnagar, Kheda, Narmada, Panchmahal, and Aravalli in the state to provide farmers with advanced technology for horticultural crops," Devvrat informed.
The state government has also decided to improve the irrigation facilities and expand the coverage. "Villages in Tharad, Dhanera, Deesa, Deodar, and Kankrej talukas of Banaskantha district in North Gujarat have received in-principle approval for two new pipeline projects. The scheme will benefit more than 15,000 hectares of irrigation," said Devvrat.
Animal husbandry is also a vital part of a farming activity and as the prime minister Narendra Modi has spoken about its commitment to double the farmer's income, the state government too is also taking steps in the direction. "The grass improvement programme of the state government has achieved incredible results in grass production. A lot of growth has been achieved in hay production in the last ten years," said Devvrat.
Talking about the pet project of PM Modi, the Gandhinagar International Finance Tec-city (GIFT) city, Devvrat said, "Exports from the Gift City, emerging as a global financial hub, increased from Rs 3,402 crore in FY 2020–21 to Rs 12,325 crore in FY 2022–23 and Rs 19,317.19 crore in FY 2023–24 by December 2023."
The NDA ruled central government on Thursday announced the union budget, which talked about 'Blue Economy'. Expressing similar concerns, the governor informed, "To boost fishing activity, work has started to develop fishing harbors in Veraval, Madhwa, and Sutrapada at a cost of Rs 1300 crore."
Besides these the Gujarat governor also talked about other developmental works of the Gujarat government. "Separate pension disbursement offices have been started in districts where the number of pensioners is high to ensure pensioners do not face inconvenience. So far, separate pension disbursement offices have been started in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Vadodara, Rajkot, and Surat districts," he said.
The governor informed that the work of developing the government libraries at Vadodara, Anand, Jamnagar, Bharuch, and Vyara as ‘Smart Libraries’ and the work of modernising the State Central Library, Gandhinagar was in progress.
