|
Nashik villages come up with power-saving formula
Mumbai February 27 : TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Deola (Nashik): For 16-year-old Vikas Babhan of Thengoda village, this is a crucial year as he will appear for his board exam. But Vikas’ parents are not frantically hoarding candles to see through the long evenings without electricity. Today, they are secure in the belief that their son can study without the nagging fear of load shedding.
Kishore Pardeshi, who owns 10 acres of land, suffered huge losses as his pump would frequently break down due to power cuts. But today he is the proud owner of lush fields.
Welcome to the tiny hamlets in Deola, where villagers have shown the way to keep power cuts at bay. The twin formulae of self-discipline and sacrifice have helped the villagers sail through the hot months without constantly worrying about the gap in demand and supply, which keeps growing each day. With electricity companies in Mumbai signalling an imminent power crisis, the city can take a leaf out of Deola’s book.
Villages in Deola now get 23 hours of power, thanks to their voluntary participation in the state utility MSEB’s Akshay Prakash Yojana that took off in December 2004. Under this scheme, the villagers pledged to turn off their three-phase connections between 5 pm and 5 am. They also decided not to draw power illegally or attach capacitors to their pumps.
Sarpanch of Deola taluk Usha Bachhav said: “We used to draw power illegally and this caused immense pressure on the system, As a result, we used to have 10 to 12 hours of load shedding every day,’’ she said. Subsequently, the villagers voluntarily gave up their heaters and electric stoves and switched over to firewood to save power, said Bachhav.
Housewives also adopted a tougher method for cooking.
“We used to get up in the morning and go to the forest to fetch firewood. Though the smoke from the chulla chokes us sometimes, our farms are green, our children study under bright lights like those in the cities,’’ said Supriya Sayeed, a villager.
But who checks that villagers don’t draw power illegally? They themselves, said Devidas Pawar of Bej village.
“Villagers have set up vigilance committees. The village panchayat reported cases of people who were drawing power illegally to the MSEB,’’ said Pawar.
Sanjay Bhatia, managing director of MSEB’s distribution arm—Maha Discom—said the revolution of sorts will continue to be successful as long as the people cooperate. “If they start drawing power illegally, long hours of load shedding will follow,’’ he said.
However, sources said the success rate was limited. Of the 42,000-odd villages in the state, Akshay Prakash had a smooth run in only 2,500 villages. they added.
|
| Source: Time NewsNetwork |
|
|
