With funding from private companies, a central solar panel unit was installed in the village on October 2.
Reeling under darkness for years, a small village in Odisha now enjoys uninterrupted power supply. Situated around 25 kilometres from state capital Bhubaneswar, Barapitha now has the distinction of being the first fully solar-powered village in the state.
"Odisha is a very hot place. So I thought that we should be using renewable source of energy for our own villages and then I picked up this tribal village. The village is hardly 25 km from Bhubaneswar but it is sad it did not have electricity all these years," said Inspector General of Police Joydeep Nayak whose efforts resulted in the feat.
With funding from private companies, a central solar panel unit was installed in the village on October 2 that powers eight street lights there.
Each of the 61 houses in the village has been provided with two solar lamps with mobile charging units. A solar lamp can run up to 10-12 hours a day, depending on usage. The village has also been provided with an LED television that runs on solar power.
"With solar lamps, the children can now study and women can cook. We used to stay in darkness earlier. Now, there is power even during rains and thunderstorms. It is convenient to walk on roads. It feels like we are staying in a city like Bhubaneswar," said Mansingh, a local resident.