VIJAYAWADA: Krishna district Collector Babu A received a national award from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for installing 1,110 solar pump sets in the district to address agricultural needs. MNRE secretary Rajiv Kapoor gave away the award to the Collector under the Off Grid and Decentralised Solar Applications Program (2015-16) category at a program held at New Delhi on Tuesday. “The district had stood top in the country among 678 districts in solar pump sets. In the last two years, several initiatives have been taken to promote solar energy and farmers are given a huge subsidy to be able to opt for this mode of irrigation,” he said.