A sunny revolution in Vizag Agency

By SNV Sudhir

Thammingala (Vizag Agency), May 23: The tribals of Vizag agency came to know about Indira Gandhi’s death, 15 years after her assassination. It indicated the prevailing communication system in the area which is just 180 km from the city. Now they are aware of daily happening through their newly acquired gadget-TV. But the box runs on Solar energy not on the mercy of APTransco which never existed there. The tribals are happy with the hassle free power system and now setting an example for alternative energy sources for the modern man..The villagers of Thammingala, a remote village in the Chintapalli agency mandal, are excited about their new possession. A new 21’ inches colour TV. They never imagined that they would be able to see moving pictures on the small box as they never saw an electric bulb thill three months ago. Thanks to the Barefoot Solar Women Engineers Association of Hyderabad that chose the Thammingala and Pusalapalem villages to install the Solar Home Light System units here. The villages are situated on the Eastern Ghats, about 180 km from the city. As of now, 67 of 88 houses in Thammingala and 26 of 40 houses in Pusalapalem village have these solar units. Each solar unit lights two bulbs..One has to trek all the 15kms from the nearby Annavaram road to reach these villages, as there is no proper road or transport system. Some heavy jeeps pass through but the villagers never prefer to use them. The villagers say the solar home light system had changed their course of life. Earlier they used to depend on kerosene lamps. “We used to get only 3 litres of kerosene that too in quota which is not at all sufficient. We need at least 6 litres of kerosene per month and we used to buy another 3 to 4 litres in black paying 3 times higher than the quota kerosene. We used to spend minimum of Rs 200 only for kerosene to lit our lives,” said Pongi Ramanamma.The solar home light unit has a panel, a battery and some wires. The panel that is fixed on the roof takes the solar energy and transforms that energy to the bulbs through wires and a battery fixed to the unit. Villagers can enjoy one hour of watching TV if they fully charge the battery without using the other lights. Now they watch a daily serial in the DD Sapthagiri channel “Bommarillu.” At the time of serial, the house of the Pothu Rajubabu is full of people. “We eagerly wait 7 to tick on the clock. We all gather before the TV and watch the serial,” says Yerra Chinnamma.The solar energy has been a boon for the students who wrote their 7th and 10th common exams and came out with flying colours. These units were fixed in the beginning of March. Tenth class exams started on March 23 and the seventh in the month of April. Six students wrote their 10th exams and ten members 7th exams from this village. “This time my child worked hard. He was academically brilliant but could not study well as we had to depend on the kerosene lamps. This year he could work hard and write his exams in a better way,” said Jartha Rajullamma whose children Radha and Gangaraju gave their seventh and tenth exams. “We are very happy that our children got the power facility which will bring in happiness in their lives. What else can we give to our descendants” said Yerramma a 60-year-old woman of the village. The projectThe Women Barefoot Solar Engineers Association, an NGO at Hyderabad, which was formed with the help of Rural Technology Park of National Institute of Rural Development, had identified four women, two from the villages of Thammingala and Pusalapalem of the Chintapalli agency mandal. They gave training to these women Papayyamma, Pravallika from Thammingala and Santoshamma, Kumari from Pusalapalem village in making the solar lamps and in small repairs for 6 months. The two women are now taking care of the units in their respective villages. A home light unit costs around Rs 13,500 of which they collected Rs 1,000 per household and deposited it in a bank by forming Village Energy Environment Commitees in both the villages. They will also collect Rs 100 per month from every household to repay the remaining cost of the unit and salaries to the trained women from the villages who are taking care of the units. “We were given training at the Rural Technology Park of National Institute of Rural Development at Hyderabad in making different varieties of solar lamps and repairing them. Now we know each and every thing about these lamps. We are now ready to repair any lamp,” said Papayamma. These units need very less maintenance except distilled water for the batteries fixed to the unit now and then. “The people who trained us at Hyderabad were in turn got training from Social Work and Research Centre an NGO in Rajasthan. Now we are ready to train other women also in making and repairing of the lamps. We will go to other villages to inspire them” said Pravallika. This correspondent could see some of the iron poles erected by the government for the supply of power in 1991, during his 15kms trek. “Officials forced us to work in erecting these poles. We took these poles all the way from Annavaram, dug them and erected. But what’s the use. Till now we were not given power” said an irate Pothu Ramulu. Speaking to this Correspondent, Assistant Professor with Rural Technology Park, Hyderabad, Dr Valentina said that they train rural people in new technologies for better living. She visited Thammingala and Pusalapalem villages for 5 times and was instrumental in installing these solar units. “This is only under first phase and in the second phase we will make the trained women setup a 1 Kilo Watt solar power plant near the village. Fifteen street lights and two community TVs will work through this plant” said Valentina. She added that their experiment was success and they would take this technology to other remote villages of the state. “These are the only villages in the state having solar power supply” said the Assistant Professor.