State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mir Shahe Alam on Sunday urged the relevant departments and agencies to work in coordination to ensure the quick use of solar power at government offices and institutions.

He also said he would soon conduct field visits to inspect the installation of solar power systems at various institutions.

He made the call at a meeting held at the conference room of the Rural Development and Cooperatives Division at the Secretariat.

The state minister said the use of solar power must be implemented quickly.

He asked the relevant departments and agencies to proceed with their work according to their respective action plans and regularly review implementation progress.

At the meeting, the ongoing activities and implementation progress of action plans of the relevant departments and agencies aimed at increasing the use of solar power at government offices and institutions were reviewed.

The meeting also discussed various aspects of reducing electricity costs at government institutions and expanding the use of renewable energy through increased reliance on solar power.

Emphasis was also placed on taking necessary initiatives to implement action plans for using solar power at offices and institutions located in Dhaka as well as field-level offices of the respective agencies outside the capital.

Secretary of the Rural Development and Cooperatives Division Dr Rafiqul Islam Mohammad chaired the meeting.

Managing Director of the Small Farmers Development Foundation (SFDF) Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, Director General of the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development in Cumilla Saif Uddin Ahmed, Registrar and Director General of the Department of Cooperatives Md Selim Fakir, Director General of the Bangladesh Rural Development Board AKM Tarek, and heads of various departments and agencies under the ministry were present.

Heads of various departments and agencies located outside the capital also joined the meeting online and presented the activities and progress of their respective organisations.