The Indian state of Gujarat is to develop solar-based desalination along its coasts on a large scale and in a cost-effective manner, the state’s chief minister Shri Narendra Modi announced on 22 March 2011.
The objective, said Modi, was to help industries get clean water for their operations. The chief minister was inaugurating a seminar on ‘Water for inclusive growth’ at Pandit Dindayal University on World Water Day.
Modi insisted on the need for water treatment and recycling and said that he had suggested to the prime minister implemention of an environmental clean-city project in 500 cities of India under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, emphasizing solid waste management and water treatment management. He said that his suggestion had received a good response initially, but that the latest union budget has put a half-hearted focus on it.
Modi insisted that his government is determined to implement this project in as many as 50 cities of Gujarat during the state’s golden jubilee year.