For the people living in coastal village-Charigharia of Odisha, which is located inside the Bhitarkanika National Park (BNP), electricity was like a dream to them. The village that never seen any development for ages because of its positioning in the national park, solar has arrived as a blessing to them.
Thanks to Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA). Under the OREDA’s new initiative 106 households of Charigharia are getting solar electricity.
Babuli Moharana, a villager of Charigharia speaking to PNN said “There is no road to the village and power distribution lines have not come here. Water is also scarce. Here people lead a simple life of farming, cattle rearing and fishing.”
The Odisha government provided solar energy to the villager of Charigharia through OREDA under the Deen Dayal Upadhaya Grameen Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) with the Centre’s help.
Panchanan Tripathy, assistant director of OREDA said that the agency would maintain each household’s solar cells for five years.
OREDA has installed three LED bulbs (each 5 watts), a tube light (18 watts), a solar fan (30 watts) and a mobile phone charger in all homes. Each house has a 200 watts solar module and battery which costs nearly Rs 65,000, Tripathy said.
“Solar energy transformed Charigharia. Villagers now watch television at night. Children study well past sundown. Earlier, it was difficult to know what was happening outside,” said Parvati Bahadur, a woman of the village.
“We were living in darkness. After sunset, students never showed any interest in studying with kerosene lamps. But now students are studying at night using solar power,” said Gopinath Mandal, a student.
Tripathy further added , OREDA has also provided solar power to 28 households in Dolaka village and eight households at Nandagala in Cuttack district.