Freemasons' Jyotirgamaya project to electrify 50 villages across India

All the 45 hutments in the sleepy little village of Nalwas in the Banaskantha district of Gujarat will be lit up thanks to the 'Jyotirgamaya' project of Grand Lodge of India (GLI), an association of freemasons. As a part of its golden jubilee celebrations, GLI has taken up the initiative to light up 50 villages across remote areas in the country that do not have access to electricity till date.

"Work is nearing completion in 26 villages. We have already completed work in seven villages spread across Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. We are targeting to complete the electrification work in all the 50 villages by end of October", said B Biswakumar, grand master, GLI adding that it was actually a difficult task to identify this village in Gujarat, a state which has close to 100 per cent rural electrification. GLI is in the process of identifying a second such village in the state.

The cost of electrifying one village ranges from Rs 3-6 lakh depending on the number of houses. Nalwas has been electrified at a cost of Rs 3.5 lakh. The entire project cost is estimated to be around Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 crore, which will be funded entirely by GLI. It has close to 20,000 members across the country, and the headcount is growing at a steady 10 per cent per annum.

GLI is installing solar photovoltaic (PV) modules and LED lamps together with charger and storage batteries at the village. If these modules are charged through the day, the batteries can store and hence provide six to seven hours of electricity after sunset. "This potentially could change the lives of the 250 people in the village, whose lives virtually go dark after sunset now. ", Biswakumar said.

The average annual income in Nalwas is around Rs 5,000-7,000, and families mostly sustain themselves by tilling small patches of land.

Reminiscing his experience of visiting these remote villages, Biswakumar says, "Some of the villages have not even seen an electric bulb in their lives. Even after more than six decades of independence, there are still thousands of villages in the country that do not have any access to electricity."

Interestingly, a few of these villages have mobile phone users. "They have a tough time in re-charging their phones and at times travel up to 25 kilometers to re-charge their gadgets", said Rajiv Sethi, assistant regional grand master, west zone, GLI.