CHANDIGARH, JUNE 8: The community kitchen in the Golden Temple complex, the holiest of holy Sikh shrines at Amritsar, will soon go solar. The Union Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy has asked the Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) to prepare a detailed project report for the purpose.To be installed at a cost of about Rs 1 crore, the solar cooking system will have the capacity to cook for 30,000 persons everyday, the biggest of its kind in the country.
The solar cooking system installed at Mount Abu in Rajasthan is at present the biggest, with a capacity to cook for 10,000 persons everyday.
On any given day, hundreds of people eat the langar at the Golden Temple complex and the number multiplies during festivals.
The langar is cooked using gas and wood as fuel. According to PEDA executive director Jagjit Puri, the project involves the use of German technology. The solar panels will be installed on the roofs of big buildings in the complex, including Teja Singh Samundari Hall andGuru Nanak Niwas and other serai's. Solar energy will be transmitted to the main kitchen from these panels. The panels will be mounted on a rotor to face the sun.
The officials from the Union ministry of Non-Conventional Energy have already held discussions with PEDA officials for the purpose.
The Golden Temple complex langar serves food to about 1,000 persons at a time and is closed late at night.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.