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The Climate Parliament group of MPs in the Indian Parliament have today submitted a signed letter to Mr P Chidambaram, the Finance Minister, calling upon the Finance Ministry to give top priority to renewable energy spending and funding for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in upcoming budget negotiations.
"As you prepare to finalise the Vote-on-Account in these difficult economic and political times, Climate Parliament would once again like to request you to ascertain that renewable energy is not pushed down the priority list of the government," the letter stated.
"This Vote-on-Account will act as a precursor or a foundation to the successful implementation of the Annual plans of the ministry and the sector in general," Climate Parliament Convenor and MP Sanjay Jaiswal said in the letter.
Despite an ambitious target in the 12th Five Year Plan, the capacity addition in the last two years has been showing a drastic downhill trend. The letter comes after Climate Parliament recently submitted a report on the policy and financial initiatives that need to be implemented in the short, medium and long term for augmenting renewable energy in India.
This activity was a follow up of the meeting held with the Prime Minister in December 2012 and a detailed memorandum submitted to the Finance Minister during Union Budget 2013-14 requesting action on the issue.