Switching over

The village is set to become the first in Maharashtra to replace incandescent bulbs with CFLs

Not too long ago,Katewadi,a village about 10 km from Baramati in Pune,was engulfed in darkness after its electricity connection was snapped over a bill payment dispute. Today,not only are the village streets lit by solar energy,but Katewadi has also been selected for a pilot project of the United Nations Development Programme UNDP and is on its way to becoming the first village in Maharashtra to have replaced its incandescent bulbs with CFLs.

Katewadi,the birthplace of NCP chief Sharad Pawar,is a village of about 1,000 families. Our goal is to become an eco-village with many more energy conserving practices put in place, says Revati Gaikwad,deputy sarpanch.

A couple of years ago,electricity to the streetlights in the village was cut off due to issues regarding the bills of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited MSEDCL. The village was enveloped in darkness and so were our lives. That is when solar panels were installed on the streets by the administration. That was the turning point in our lives, says Meenakshi Deokate,sarpanch of the village.

This move infused new life into the village that had stopped almost all public activity after sundown. In fact,even after the electricity connection was resumed four to five years ago,the street lights continued to be powered by solar energy. Santosh Kate,a farmer,says,Thanks to the solar lights,our dependence on the MSEDCL has gone. People can sit out and interact with one another even at night without any fear.

Besides solar lamps,the other big move in the village has been that of many families switching to energy saving CFLsthe village has been selected under the National Disaster Risk Management Programme of the UNDP and CFLs are being installed in all the households. The Relief and Rehabilitation Department of the state government is the implementing agency for this project.

Katewadi has been selected for running this project on a pilot basis. All incandescent bulbs are being removed and CF lamps installed. The cost of this project is Rs 1 lakh,of which Rs 80,000 is for material purchase, Ganesh Sonawane,a disaster management officer,says. The project will be completed in a few months.

Those who have already installed the lamps are a happy lotthey are saving as much as 40 per cent on their electricity bills. Chairman of Shri Chhatrapati Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana,Prashant Kate,who lives in the village,says,The CFLs have made our electricity bills go down considerably. They also exude less heat.

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What next? An eco-village. We will be planting medicinal plants like neem and tulsi on a large scale. We plan to segregate garbage and use organic waste for vermi-compost, says Gaikwad.