A new beginning

Ranchi, Jan. 10: As many as 4,000 houses spread across 26 remote villages in six districts will emerge from darkness this February-end.

The Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (JREDA), a state agency for promoting use of renewable energy sources, has decided to cover these remote villages under its solar home and street lightning installation scheme. It is part of a joint initiative by the state and Union governments to bring electricity to far-off villages. The state government is going to finance the project while the Centre will provide financial incentive. JREDA is acting as the nodal agency.

The districts shortlisted are Lohardaga, Sahebganj, Giridih, West Singhbhum, Deoghar and Ranchi — all dominated by Scheduled Tribe.

The agency is going to float tenders soon. “We are going to invite bidders, who will provide us with solar street lights and home lights,” said JREDA project officer Prakash Kumar Das.

The estimated cost of individual home lighting will be approximately Rs 14,000 depending on the tender rates. Das, however, refused to divulge the total cost of the project. The state government was yet to sanction the amount, he added.

However, JREDA has already undertaken an extensive survey to find out the number of houses that will be lit up. “We had carried out a door-to-door survey to find out the villages that are not electrified. A village energy committee was also formed and a meeting was organised to gather information from village heads,” Das said.

Thereafter, the agency shortlisted the families depending on the number of members, income, their need for electricity and other factors.

According to statistics available with JREDA officials, some of the beneficiaries are 11 families of Chulhapani villages at Kuru block in Lohardaga, 58 families of Rajmehasinpur at Rajmahal block in Sahebganj, 37 at Vishunpur village in Giridih and 41 at Jeridih village in Deori block of Giridih district, among others.

“In these villages, the people depend on kerosene, which is very expensive, to light lamps. Hence, the Union government has made provisions for electricity at these remote villages at lower rates by making use of solar energy,” Das said.

Last year, JREDA had installed home lightning system at 447 villages in the state. “Our future plan is to provide solar pumps at remote villages that do not have water facilities,” Das added.

Apart from Jharkhand, the Union government has also included Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh in the programme.