Solar home lighting system

Chandigarh, February 18 - Village Iqbalpur of Gurgaon district hasattained the distinction of becoming first 100 per cent Solar HomeLighting System covered village of Haryana. The Deputy Commissioner ofGurgaon, Deepti Umashankar yesterday distributed solar home lightingsystem to 201st customer of the village in a programme organized atGurgaon.

The Gurgaon Gramin Bank in collaboration with Bharitya Vikas TrustManipal Karnataka and M/s Tata BP Solar India Ltd. has helped thisvillage to attain the status. The Bank provided 100 per cent loanfacility for installation of solar home lighting system.

The bank hashelped in setting up of 3000 solar home lighting systems in ruralareas as a result of which about 15 KW power has been saved.In her address, Deepti Umashankar underlined the importance ofnon-conventional energy sources in the present day situation and saidthat the potential of solar energy could be used to fill up the gapbetween demand and supply of power. She lauded the role played byGurgaon Gramin Bank in making this village a 100 per cent solar homelighting village and said that it had set an example for othervillages to replicate.Highlighting the uses of non-conventional energy sources, she saidthat it helped in saving power and reducing the bill of electricity.

She appealed the people to work for energy conservation which is needof the hour.She advised the bankers present in the function to impart training tothe people, especially women in use of non-conventional energy sourcesand other income generating programmes, which would enable the BPLfamilies to improve their living standard. For this, self help groupsneeded to be strengthened in villages.The Deputy Commissioner honoured the first customer Mrs. Kiran andthe 201st customer Mr Rajesh Kumar of the village who adopted thesolar home lighting system. She also presented loan sanction lettersto the villagers and self help groups of the village.Earlier, The Chairman of Gurgaon Gramin Bank, NT Hegde whilepresiding over the function said that the bank had fixed a target ofsetting up 5000 solar home lighting systems by the end of thisfinancial year.

Effortsshould also be made to provide lights(Roshani) to the people, as itwas equally important, specially for education. Amit Kumar, Deputy GMof Tata BP solar also highlighted the uses of solar energy which wasavailable in abundance in India.