Shah Rukh and the solar lanterns. Telegraph pictures

Kendrapara, Aug. 6: Shah Rukh Khan’s dream project seems to have gone wrong.

On screen, the actor was pivotal in improving the lives of villagers, especially by solving the problem of irregular electricity, in the 2004 movie Swades. However, off-screen the actor’s solar light harnessing project titled “Light a Billion Lives” has turned out to be a flop show.

Shah Rukh had lent financial support in lighting up Ahirajpur village near the Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary in Kendrapara district three years ago. However, most of the solar lanterns that once used to illuminate the households are not functioning anymore.

With lights steadily going out, the nondescript Ahirajpur hamlet in Rajnagar tehsil is plunging into darkness. This village has 97 households with a population of 678 people. Shah Rukh had funded the project, while The Energy and Research Institute (TERI) had implemented the solar energy harnessing initiative.

The idea was to illuminate the remote coastal villages languishing in darkness. Apart from Khan-funded Ahirajpur village, the project was launched over three years ago in Banipala, Deulisahi, Rangani, Talchua, Okilopala and Bagapatia villages amid much fanfare. The villagers were jubilant about solar lights as handmade kerosene lamp was the only source to drive away darkness. But, things are no better in any of these villages either.

“During my recent visit to Ahirajpur and the rest of the villages, I was shocked to see that the solar-charged lanterns are not working due to lack of maintenance. Although the solar light-charging station is still in operation, the battery-charged lanterns have mostly turned dysfunctional. With solar lanterns going out of order, the villages are becoming dark and gloomy again. Electricity is like a distant dream for these villagers,” said Gyanadev Beura, a local leader.

The villagers might not have seen any of the actor’s movies or his television shows, but his name rings a bell for them. Frustrated over the “light going out of their lives”, they are now planning to get in touch with Shah Rukh to help them out of this situation.

“The actor has been generous in funding the solar energy project. We will write to him to apprise him of the failure of the project. We hope that he would come forward to revive the project,” Tapan Mandal, a local villager, said.

Rajnagar block development officer Brahmananda Behera said the project had been launched with the initiative of private agencies.

“We are aware that the lights are out of order due to non-maintenance. But, the government agencies are not authorised to take up revival of the project,” he said.

Bhubaneswar-based Forum for Integrated Development Resources (FIDR), in-charge of overall supervision of the Light a Billion Lives project, admitted that the solar energy harnessing project had not met with complete success.

“The solar charging station is running, but the lanterns are turning defunct. The in-built batteries have expired and need to be replaced. We have sought TERI’s assistance to reactivate the solar lanterns,” said FIDR secretary Devi Prasanna Pattnaik.