ADILABAD: A village in Adilabad district, Mukra K, has now become a role model for others. Instead of depending on the government for funds, it has found a way to generate funds on its own, at least to pay off the power bills of streetlights.
Mukra K is the first village in the State to generate power on its own. The gram panchayat (GP) recently purchased two solar panels and integrated them with the State grid. The panels generate 6 kilowatts (KW) of power which is more than sufficient for street lamps.
Sarpanch Gadge Meenakshi says they had purchased the solar panels for Rs 4 lakh. The generated electricity also powers the water plant, school, Anganwadi centre and the village panchayat building. In the process, the village is saving Rs 10,000 every month.
Out of the 6 KW generated, only 4 KW is used to power different public spaces in the village while the rest (2 KW) is sent to the State grid, earning the GP an additional Rs 5,000 each month.
Vermicompost initiative
The GP raised the money to purchase solar panels with money it had made by selling vermicompost which it had made with garbage generated in the village. Rajya Sabha MP J Santosh Kumar, in a recent visit to the village, bought a 50 kg bag of vermicompost at Rs 1,000. From December 2020 to October 2022, the village made a profit of Rs 7 lakh by selling vermicompost made from dry waste generated by residents.
For this initiative, the GP was awarded the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Shashaktikaran Purashkar, a national award for effectively implementing various schemes in April this year.
Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav praised the efforts of the village administration to improve greenery and to keep all the saplings that were planted under the State government’s Haritha Haram initiative alive.
Apart from streetlights. the electricity generated from solar energy also powers the water plant, school, Anganwadi centre and the village panchayat building. In the process, the village is saving Rs 10,000 every month. Out of the 6 KW generated, only 4 KW is used while the rest is sent to the State grid, earning Rs 5,000/month