Solar lights change lives of Sunderbans residents

Solar lights installed in various parts of Sunderbans, one of the most energy-deficient regions of the country, are helping in reducing man-animal conflict in the region.
Tigers and other animals straying into villages in darkness is a common incident in the Sunderbans region and there are many instances where villagers have either being killed or injured in the past few decades due to it.
To help villagers tackle the problem, the WWF-India took up a project in 2008 of installing solar lights in the Sunderbans region and the blocks covered under the project were the forest fringes of Kultali, Basanti, Gosaba and Hingalganj.

The sites were selected in consultation with the state Forest Department and based on WWF-India's field team surveys on tiger and other wildlife straying incidents and depredation of cattle.
To ensure security of the installed solar systems, WWF-India provided one home light connection to each of the individual households who were the immediate beneficiaries of street lights thus, making them accountable and ensuring safety for the systems.
"Since the project started in 2008-2009, around 120 solar lights have been installed. After they were installed, our reports say not a single tiger straying incident or conflicts in these specific locations have taken place," Ratul Saha, Landscape Coordinator, WWF-India told PTI.