It is often said that every dark cloud has a silver lining but for UP’s Sarvantara village the wait for that silver lining has been way too long, but fortunately the day has come after nearly 70 years. All thanks to one woman from an alien land.
Sarvantara is located 46 km north of the Bahraich district headquarters and 159 km from Lucknow, the state capital.
Final year student Clementine Chambon, a PhD student in Department of Chemical Engineering, set up a mini-solar grid along with colleague, Indian social entrepreneur Amit Saraogi via a newage start-up company Oorja.
In a village where power was a far- fetched dream the facility has helped 1000 people with electricity for affordable lighting, fans and phone charging.
Oorja quite successfully helps access to clean energy to 450 million people in a bid to promote sustainable local economic development.
In a interview with The New Indian Express, Clementine says, “We are delighted to see smiles on the faces of our happy customers, and hear reports of how electricity is allowing their children to study longer.”
Majority in Sarvantara are farmers and Clementine hopes to impact and fuel productivity the most.
Clementine interestingly learnt cost-effective technologies to harness power of biomass at Imperial College London and holds a first class Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge.
With no electricity network in this Dalit-dominated hamlet, the villagers had to walk distances to nearby villages or block and tehsil headquarters to charge cell phones, to speak of lighting and fans.
The happiness of the villagers knew no bounds when residences got illuminated as soon as lights were switched on.
A large number of men, women and children gathered around the launch site.
The Rs 20 lakh installation in Sarvantara, is Oorja’s first mini-grid.
Estimates suggest one in five of 1.3 billion people in India live without access to electricity.
Nearly 450 million people in India lack access to reliable power, limiting their socio-economic progress.
While this one village and it’s story may be a drop in the ocean, it does give hope to many others who wish to see the Sanskrit phrase Tamso Ma Jyotirgamaya to translate into reality.
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