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| Living on sunshine |
Ranchi, Sept. 29: The 50-odd villages and hamlets of Albert Ekka block in Gumla district will emerge from darkness soon.
The Union ministry of new and renewable energy will set up solar plants and mini power grids in every hamlet of the remote block to harness energy so that the households are not only lit up, but their irrigation pumps and flour mills run too.
In the initial phase, the ministry will install a solar power unit in each of the five villages of Jari, Meral, Pikri, Jarda and Gobindpur.
While Jari happens to be the native place of Param Veer Chakra Lance Naik Albert Ekka, after whom the new block has been named, the other villages are its neighbours. Ekka’s wife Balamdina and other family members continue to live in Jari, which still does not have electricity.
Deputy commissioner of Gumla Rahul Sharma said two officials representing the Union ministry — chief consultant S.K. Sangal and principal scientist Tarun Singh — along with an official of Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency, Prakash Kumar Das, today visited the five villages where the plants would be set up in the first phase.
Solar Energy Society of India will install the solar plants on behalf of the Centre. Officials of the Union ministry are now reportedly preparing the detailed project report. Sharma said the district administration was playing only a facilitator’s role.
The cost of setting up each solar plant, having a capacity of 20KW, will be Rs 1.11 crore. This includes the expenses for installing the solar panels, power grids and electric wires.
Albert Ekka block had been carved out of Dumri block six months ago. This is the only block in the state to have been named after a person.
The ministry has installed a solar power plant of 20KW capacity at Jhargaon village of Chainpur block in Gumla district. The project has already been commissioned. The plant is providing energy to 83 householdsin the village apart from supplying power to a lift irrigation unit with a 10HP machine and also a flour mill.
