This New Year, a remote village in border Barmer district of Rajasthan was brightened up with the launch of electricity supply for the first time.
A hundred Dalit families residing in Meghwalon ki Dhani, a village in Thar desert, witnessed the 'miracle' as their hutments were illuminated with bulbs, extending their daily lives by a few hours.
Meghwalon ki Dhani is nestled away from the normal power grid. For the first time, the village found itself connected to a solar-powered grid.
For Malaram, Gangaram and Lachchuram - all in their eighties - and other senior citizens of the village, it was a miracle moment.
On the first day, the entire village gathered at a common place for watching TV, something they had never imagined till few days back.
This amazing moment came as CAIRN India, the oil and gas major, decided to join hands with villagers to bring solar powered-micro grid to this village, according to an official spokesman here today.
A micro-grid uses central energy production and storage using transportation and distribution lines to connect each household to the central system. The benefit of such a "pooled" resource is the ability to supply higher peak demand power/energy to households.
Cairn India provided capital for the project while its partner in this initiative, Sun Edison is technically responsible for smooth operation. Local youths trained at Cairn Enterprise Centre, Barmer, have done the wiring.
The task was completed in a record period of 90 days with active support of villagers.
When testing and illumination of light happened on New Year's eve in the presence of CSR head Nilesh Jain, glowing faces of villagers expressed their joy and disbelief.
