Bhubaneswar, Oct. 3: The city reeled from power cuts yesterday, but Barapitha, a tribal village on its outskirts, watched the first T20 between India and South Africa uninterrupted on television.
Barapitha is the first village in the state to have installed 100 per cent solar power for household purposes and street lighting. This is the first time that the village, located near Deras on the Mendhasal-Chandaka road around 20km from here, has received power connectivity.
After waiting for electricity for several years, the villagers had finally approached companies such as Nalco, Ecco Solar and Jackson Solar and requested them for solar power for lighting up their houses.
"We requested companies such as Nalco, Ecco Solar and Jackson Solar to help us with the solar project for the village," said inspector general of police Joydeep Nayak, the brain behind the idea.
The companies extended their help to the village of 61 households under their corporate social responsibility schemes.
"Each household has been given two solar home lighting systems. The lighting system is very efficient and can continue up to a month with minimum luminance after a day's charging. With the maximum luminance, however, the lighting will continue for six to eight hours," Nayak said.
"The village school and streets will also have lighting," he said.
As the tribal village, near Barapitha reserve forest on the side of the Chandaka-Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary, falls under the cyclone-prone zone, the solar panels provided are foldable, so that in case of a cyclone they can be folded to prevent any damage.
The village was also gifted an LED television and dish antenna for the village community centre.
Inaugurating the project, Nalco chairman-cum-managing director Tapan Kumar Chand said the national aluminium major was committed to promoting green and unconventional energy sources and would help more villages such as Barapitha in the future.
Khurda district collector Niranjan Sahoo, who was also present on the occasion, along with deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi, urged the people to use more unconventional energy sources and said the state government would help them through its various schemes.
Chandaka forester Niranjan Mohapatra, who looks after the Barapitha area, said: "The solar lighting project for the tribal people will definitely uplift their lifestyle. While living near the city for last several decades they never had any experience of power. Finally, with this solar venture, their dream has come true."
