Example set by Kaldari

The Sunday supplement of the Marathi newspaper Sakal has started a new column – Navya VaaTaa – New Paths – that chronicles efforts taken by people to save energy. The snippets up till now used to contain items like how someone has modified a bike to run on electricity or a wind mill that powers the mechanism to water the farm. Yesterday’s snippet was worth taking a note though. The village of Kaldari (kaaL daree) located in the Purandhar taluka of the Pune district has taken a new step in becoming energy independent. The physical location of this village puts it in a deep valley that limits the natural light. The sunrise is late and sunset early. The MSEB supply is erratic and plagued with load shedding. The school kids had to complete their studies in lights powered by Kerosene and the village pretty much worked the schedule of the sun. But they decided to change the things. The local self government – Gram Panchayat – chipped in INR 8,000.00, the villagers chipped in INR 20,000.00, and a solar energy project took shape to power the school at night. More than 4.5 Lac have been spent up till now to power the local hospital, veterinary hospital, street lights and milk storage plant. Almost all the families now use biogas as energy required for cooking. Sun, Wind, Animal Waste – whatever natural resources could be used, have been used. Kaldari has set an example, it is hoped that more will follow.

P. S. If you can locate the link on Sakal website, let me know. The site somehow refuses to load...