A remote village in Nagaland’s Mon district bordering Myanmar where the light from the sun used to decide the hours of working until recently has now access to electricity.
The Mon district administration, in collaboration with Global Himalayan Expedition, completed the electrification of the hitherto unelectrified Shinnyu village with solar power.
“We are happy to inform that the Mon district administration, in collaboration with Global Himalayan Expedition, has been able to electrify hitherto unelectrified village in the remotest part of Mon district,” Mon deputy commissioner Thavaseelan K. quoted Shinnyu village as saying.
Altogether 60 households, a church and a community hall of the village have been electrified using solar power.
The entire cost for the project amounting to Rs 23 lakh was borne through corporate social responsibility funding and executed by the Global Himalayan Expedition.
The Global Himalayan Expedition works towards providing clean energy access through solar power to remote communities and has also won the United Nations Global Climate Action Award 2020.
Thavaseelan expressed his gratitude to Global Himalayan Expedition for taking up the project.
“In the next phase, we are working on electrifying more villages in addition to several health units and schools,” he stated.
He also expressed his gratitude to adviser to the department of underdeveloped areas N. Bongkhao Konyak for his continuous support and guidance.
He acknowledged the services Shinnyu Village Council and the people of Shinnyu village for their heartwarming community mobilisation and participation.
There are still 10 villages in the district without electricity.
Thavaseelan has written to the Global Himalayan Expedition to set up solar microgrids in these remote unelectrified villages and help solve the energy access issue.
“Mon district of Nagaland is one of the most backward regions of the state and topographically, the villages are situated in the hilly region and very difficult to access due to poor road connectivity,” the letter said.
Some of the villages are connected by dirt roads while some villages have to be trekked for eight to ten hours to sometimes even a day, he stated.
Thavaseelan said the community in these remote unelectrified villages is facing numerous problems due to lack of proper lighting facilities.
Some of these villages also have a gridline but at present, there is no plan to connect them through central grid-based electricity due to their remoteness and inaccessibility in the next four to five years, he added.