Imphal, December 21 2010: Lalcha Haokip of Tingkai Khullen, a tiny remote village located at Laimaton-Koubru hill range in Manipur's Senapati district is going to celebrate this year's Christmas with electric lights for the first time in his lifetime.

"We'll be having a great Christmas", Lalcha, 19 who is in charge of the sound system of the village church said.

"We will be able to watch various films on TV" .

Like Lalcha, almost all the 41 households of the village having a population of 230 will be celebrating Christmas in the same manner.

The tireless efforts of the young village chief Nehkholam Haokip to electrify his village has come to light and has subsequently brought smiles to the villagers when Manipur Renewable Energy Development Agency (Manireda) stepped in and set up a 10 Kilowatt capacity wind-solar hybrid power project in the village.

"We were helpless in telling our true story because our village was listed as one of the electrified villages", the chief said.

"But our dream has come true through Manireda's project." Every Tingkai village household will be charged ' 50 per month for a CFL bulb.

There was no electricity in the village even after resettlement in 2001.The village was deserted for five complete years due to the ethnic clashes between the Nagas and Kukis in the early nineties.

With the advent of electricity from wind and solar plants, the village now has three televisions sets, one each at the village energy committee's chairman, its secretary and a church functionary.

Manipur's outer parliamentary constituency MP Thangso Baite who inaugurated the Manireda project on Tuesday, handed over the wind-solar hybrid power project to the Tingkhai khullen village chief Nehkholam Haokip in a simple function held at the picturesque village, 45 km south-west of the state capital, Imphal.Former minister Ngamthang Haokip, NEC Planning Advisor J Lhungdim, Commissioner (Science and Technology) H Imocha, Manireda Director L Manglem, ADC (Kangpokpi) Chairman Seipu Haokip besides other officials and village elders also attended the inaugural function.

According to Manireda Director L Manglem, his 28 men staff in association with the respective beneficiary villagers have so far electrified more than 200 villages out of state's 3000 villages in the last 10 years at the rate of 20 villages per year with renewable sources of power supply.

The agency has so far set up seven wind-solar hybrid power projects of similar generating capacity across the state besides distributing many street lighting systems.

On the other hand, the state electricity department has so far electrified 2002 villages.

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