This Article is From May 19, 2009

Greenathon impact: Panchpadi in focus

Greenathon impact: Panchpadi in focus
Panchpadi:

In February 2009, the NDTV Toyota Greenathon was held, the first of it's kind 24 hour telethon for the environment to raise money for TERI's Light a Billion Lives initiative - that's solar powering villages across the country.

Shah Rukh Khan sponsored five villages, and we visited one of them in Rajasthan, to find no one there had heard of him.

Far away from the glitz and glamour of the Greenathon, there we were in the village of Panchpadi, one of the five villages sponsored by Shah Rukh Khan for the Light a Billion Lives Scheme.

It's a village that's been off the development roadmap for the last 60 years. The 90 odd families here resigned to the darkness that night brings. But Greenathon is set to change that. The village will soon have a solar powering station. The house of Teja Ram Gujjar, for instance, is where the solar panels and charging station will be set up.

"We held a meeting of the villagers and told them about this project. They all agreed the project should come to their village and this house was chosen for setting up the charging station," said Murli Dhar Sharma, NGO worker.

"All the preparations have been made," said Teja Ram Gujjar, Entrepreneur.

The villagers now cannot wait to switch to solar lamps from the toxic and expensive kerosene lamps.

Since this solar power programme has been sponsored by Shah Rukh Khan, we decided to find out how much villagers knew about him.

NDTV: Shah Rukh Khan ka naam suna hai? (Have you heard the name of Shah Rukh Khan?)

"Nahi," said a villager. Many like him said 'no', they had not heard of Shah Rukh Khan.

They may not know who Shah Rukh Khan is but they are about to benefit from his generosity. The marvels of solar technology are coming to this village soon.

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