The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued a notification stating that some new fake websites have come up posing as the registration portal for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) program.

The Ministry noted that these fake websites are duping the public and are capturing private data of people through a fake registration process.

It’s not the first time the MNRE has asked people to remain alert and not fall prey to such kinds of antics used by fraudulent entities. Last year too, the Ministry issued a circular advising beneficiaries and people to refrain from depositing any registration fee and sharing their data on such websites.

Last year, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the launch of the KUSUM program, which will provide ₹334.22 billion (~$4.69 billion) in central financial support under the KUSUM program. In all, 181,200 solar pumps are to be installed across the country, categorized under clusters in each state.

The program has been divided into three components and aims to add a solar capacity of 25,750 MW by 2022.

• The first component under the program includes the installation of 10,000 MW of decentralized ground-mounted grid-connected renewable power projects.
• The second component will be the installation of 1.75 million standalone solar-powered agriculture pumps.
• The third component is the solarization of 1 million grid-connected solar-powered agriculture pumps.

In the Union Budget this year, Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, announced that the government plans to expand PM-KUSUM to help two million farmers to set up standalone solar agricultural pumps and 1.5 million farmers to set up grid-connected pumps. Under the program, farmers with fallow lands would be able to generate solar power to sell to the grid.

Earlier, MNRE had asked states to prepare innovative business models for implementing the PM-KUSUM program. Citing the example of business models for the solarization of pumps adopted in Haryana, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, MNRE had asked other states to follow suit.

Image credit: JREDA