Punjab minister denied foreign tour to study green hydrogen

Chandigarh: Assailing the Central government for denying clearance for a tour on green hydrogen to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, Punjab New and Renewable Energy Sources Minister Aman Arora on Friday questioned the BJP why it is politically so insecure from the Aam Aadmi Party leadership.

This is not for the first time that the Centre has denied permission to AAP leaders, said Arora, noting that earlier it had denied permission to party's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal to visit Singapore to represent India at the World Cities Summit.

Interestingly, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had cleared a list of 13-member delegation, including Arora, on September 14, but the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has not issued political clearance to Arora.

The minister said the tour was sponsored by the Indo-German Energy Forum, and neither the Centre, nor the state government will have to bear any financial burden, he said.

The success of people-friendly policies of AAP has presented a strong challenge to the BJP's model of hate and lies, he said.

"This knowledge sharing tour from September 24 to October 2 was of much importance for planning and developing new and renewable energy resources in the state to meet future requirements, besides ensuring a green and clean environment," said Arora.