Jharkhand College Dropout Builds Bamboo Hydel Plant, Officials Interested

A mini-hydel plant developed by a 34-year-old man using bamboos has drawn the attention of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

Hailing from Bayang village in Jharkhand's Ramgarh district, Kedar Prasad Mahto claimed to have developed the 5 KVA mini-hydel plant last year on a small village river.

The power is being used to illuminate a village temple and streets at no cost, he said.

A team of officials from NABARD recently visited the mini hydel power plant developed by the village youth to study the feasibility of its replication.

Upendra Kumar, Deputy Development Manager of NBARD, said, "We are studying the feasibility of such micro hydel plant. We are evaluating if this micro hydel plant would be viable in providing power to village farmers for cultivation. Both technical and financial aspects of it are being reviewed." During the visit of NABARD team, officials were informed that Mahto could set up a 2MW capacity hydel plant at an estimated cost of Rs 2 crore.

Mahto had long dreamt that he would be able to design a plant which could provide free electricity to his native village of Bayang, a mainly agricultural hamlet.

A college dropout Mahto set up the mini hydel power plant with investment of Rs 3 lakh from his pocket which has been generating 5KVA power for last one year. He said that his mini plant is capable of generating 30 to 40 KVA power but he is not generating full capacity power.

Mahto constructed the plant with bamboo sticks and installed a self-made turbine and generator in his mini hydel plant.

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