Remote village in Nagaland’s Mon district electrified using solar power

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Feb. 18(EMN): The district administration of Mon in collaboration with the Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) has electrified an unelectrified village in the remotest part of Mon district – Shinnyu village using solar power.

Speaking to Eastern Mirror, Deputy Commissioner of Mon, Thavaseelan K, shared that they had requested the GHE to electrify some of the un-electrified habitations in Mon district and a pilot project was taken up in November 2020.

‘We started working, and completely through CSR funding everything was purchased; we got some engineers from Meghalaya who travelled all the way to Shinnyu village, and within a period of 4-5 days, the entire work was completed and now the whole village including 60 households, churches, community hall and streets are electrified,’ Thavaseelan shared.

He informed that the total cost of the project was INR 23 lakh, including cost of logistics for transport of materials from New Delhi, as all the items were purchased from there and transported by truck.

He mentioned that there are still many habitations without electricity under Mon district, mostly new settlements and unrecognised villages.

He further informed that it is an ongoing effort and plans to electrify all the villages. ‘We will also be taking up several health units like community health centres which were unable to function properly in the past because of power problems, he stated.

The DC also issued a press release stating that “the installation of solar lights at Shinnyu village will hopefully transform the community”.

He stated that the entire cost of the project was borne by CSR funding and executed by GHE, which is working towards providing clean energy access through solar power to the remote communities and do so in a sustainable, scalable and environmentally beneficial manner leading to an overall development of the community while empowering the local village population.

He expressed his gratitude to GHE, which is said to have electrified 131 villages across the country till date, for taking up the project in Shinnyu village, adding that “they are working on electrifying more villages in addition to several health units and schools”.

Thavaseelan expressed his gratitude to N Bongkhao Konyak, Advisor for Department of Under Developed Areas (Duda) for his continuous support and guidance. He also thanked one John, a teacher at Shinnyu village, Shinnyu village Council and the people of Shinnyu village for their heart warming community mobilisation and participation.

List of Villages without electrification in Mon district: