Every Village Should be Aware of the Use of Solar Energy – Pejawar Swamiji
Kundapur: “Every village needs to be aware of the use of Solar energy in the present situation”, said Sri Vishwesha Theertha Swamiji of Pejawar Math Udupi.
The Swamiji was speaking at the closing ceremony of the implementation of Solar Lights project in Amasebailu organized by the Amasebailu Charitable Trust, Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project, Karnataka Bank Ltd Mangaluru, Amasebail Grama Panchayat, Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL), District Administration Udupi, and SELCO Solar Light Pvt Ltd at Amasebailu High School Ground here, on Sunday June 9.
Sri Vishwesha Theertha Swamiji said, “Amasebailu Charitable Trust Chariman A G Kodgi has revolutionized the village by implementing solar lights in every household. Now, Amasebailu Village has been recognized as the first Solar village in the country. It has happened because of the continued efforts of A G Kodgi. Kodgi is concerned about his village and he has done his work without any position or power”.
Sri Vishwesha Theertha Swamiji further said, “We have provided the electricity connection to the residents of Naxal affected villages in Sringeri Taluk. After seeing the successful installation of solar lights in the Amasebailu village, we are planning to give solar lights through Pajewar Math to the residents of Naxal affected villages”.
In his inaugural speech, Dr D Veerendra Heggade Dharmadhikari of Dharmasthala said, “Today the country is facing problems with the generation of electricity because of the shortage of water. As per Gandhji’s Gram Swaraj movement, we need to give priority for solar power in every village. By installing the solar lights, we will be able to save a lot of money on electricity bills. Amasebailu Village has been a role model for the country by installing solar lights in every house. The people of the village must make use of this project in a proper way,” he said.
Magsaysay award winner and president of SELCO Dr Harish Hande (in his key note address) said, “Twenty-five crore people of the total Indian population live without electricity even after 70 years of independence. Power shortage is not something that is the blame of the government. It is the result of the exhaustion of the available capacity to generate power. Solar energy cannot be controlled by anyone and is available for 12 hours, which can be used as a form of renewable energy extensively.”
Dr Harish Hande further said, “The Karnataka model is an appropriate model of solar energy. The model should be replicated all over India. States like Odisha, Meghalaya, and Chattisgarh should follow the model of Karnataka. But Karnataka has failed to market the model. At least two to three students from various universities in UK and USA submit their doctoral thesis on the solar energy model adopted by Karnataka,” he said.
In his introductory remark, Amasebailu Charitable Trust President A G Kodgi said, “Amasebailu is the first gram panchayat to get the tag of the solar gram panchayat.”
Kodgi further said that the project was executed in three phases. Solar lights were installed in 1,643 houses and 27 solar street lamps on the streets.
As per the agreement with SELCO Solar Light Private limited, the solar lamps have a guarantee for five years. Faulty lamps will be replaced during the guarantee period. The costs of four solar lamps were priced at Rs 16,000 (Rs 9,900 for two lamps). But the beneficiaries were offered the lamps at a subsidised price of Rs 6,000 for four lamps and Rs 3,000 for two lamps.
The entire project of illuminating Amasebailu with solar lamps was implemented at a total cost of Rs 2.13 crores. As the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) failed to keep its promise of meeting 30% of the cost of the project, the trust and the government-borne the additional cost. With the completion of the project, 1,858 houses (including those from the trust’s previous initiatives) have solar lamps, Kodgi said.
Mahabaleshwar Bhat (MD and CEO Karnataka Bank), Kota Srinivas Poojary (opposition leader of Legislative council), Ananthkrishna (former Chairman Karnataka Bank), Halady Srinivas Shetty (MLA Kundapur), Appanna Hegde (former MLA), Sheela K Shetty (vice president of Udupi Zilla Panchayat), and others were also present.
