MANIREDA dispels darkness from Pushing
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, March 08, 2014:
Interior village of Pushing located about 60 km east of Ukhrul district headquarters and inhabited by Tangkhul Ichin-Inal tribe, has been electrified by Manipur Renewable Energy Development Agency (MANIREDA) after it had been deprived of power for over one decade.
Pushing village has 180 residents with a population of nearly 1, 000.Long time back, Power Department laid the electric wires and installed transformer in the village.
However, the villagers would get power during festive seasons only and remained power-starved for the rest of the seasons for over one decade now.
The mode of transport for Pushing villagers solely depends on only two DI Tata passenger vehicles.
They enjoy the passenger service to get to the Ukhrul district headquarters.
However, during rainy season the road turns very bad and slippery that any type of vehicle cannot move along it.
In case of emergency, they have to walk on foot for about 60 km to reach the district headquarters for any help.
MANIREDA started a micro hydro power plant at a cost of Rs 25.57 lakh under the sponsorship of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in 2012. The 5 MW project is using water from Kong Lok, a stream, besides a dyke.
This stream is located about 2 km from the village.
The brook is formed by water flowing down from about 900 mt high Khodia hillock and scientists of MANIREDA discovered the potential and took up the project.
Now, MANIREDA has tapped power from the watercourse, apart from giving immense benefit of the water to the inhabitants of the tribal village.
The villagers had to spend one whole day to fetch water from the stream before, but now the problem of scarcity of water has been easily solved by the project.
The power project now supplies electricity to 50 households of the village till midnight.
Each household has been allowed to use three CFL bulbs.
Moreover, these villagers have also started watching TVs.
In this village, street lamps have also been lighted with 15 CFL bulbs solving the problem of darkness during night time.
Further, they have got the chance to access internet facility.
Only 50 houses have been electrified so far under the project.
The other houses are located far from the project site.
The remaining houses will be covered and electrified in the second phase of the project.
After the electrification began in January 18 last, the project was formally inaugurated and dedicated to the populace by L Manglem, Director, MANIREDA on Friday.
Speaking on the occasion, Manglem informed that MANIREDA has electrified nearly 200 remote villages in the hill areas as of now.
Six out of the total villages have been electrified under micro hydro projects, which are considered the easiest ways to provide power to far off villages.
He, however, said that such projects need a lot of water, and appealed to the villagers to plant sufficient trees to maintain the water sources to sustain the projects.
Pushing village chief, Yanglung said that the project has been successfully dedicated to the villagers because of the support and cooperation extended to MANIREDA.