Guwahati, Nov 11: Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said that religion should be put aside for the progress of the country.
 “If India has to grow, let us put religion on one side. Otherwise we will be fighting on the basis of religion,” he said at the inauguration of the two-day SECON ‘09 to address the key issues pertaining to development and growth of the energy sector in the North Eastern Region.
 “India is for all of us whether you are a Muslim Kashmiri or not, whether Assamese or not”, he asserted.
 Stating that his ministry was giving a new direction for giving maximum thrust to renewable energy, he said German power company Tripton was setting up two 3000 mw each solar power projects in Gujarat and Rajasthan to produce 20,000 mw solar energy by 2020.
 Speaking of the dangers of concentrating only on hydrocarbons ignoring water, wind and solar power as sources of energy, Abdullah warned, “I see a time coming when we won’t have any hydrocarbon in the country.”

Lastupdate on : Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 IST