The Amasebail GP consists of 3 villages—Amasebailu, Rattadi, and Machattu—in which there are about 1,872 houses. Of this, 1,497 houses were covered under the scheme. The entire project cost Rs 2.13 crore. The project accepted 30% of funds from the central government and 20% from the state government. The funds were released in three phases; MNRE released 30% and KREDL-20%. The district administration provided Rs 25 lakh for the scheme, under the anti-Naxal package.
An expert, said, “It’s a continuous process, if any house wishes to install solar lights, they can contact us. Owners of houses which are under construction, people who believe that solar energy will not be useful during the monsoon, and some people who have financial issues, have not participated in the scheme. However, it is one of the large-scale solar projects in the Naxal-affected Amasebail gram panchayat in Kundapur taluk. The installation of solar lamps was a joint effort of the trust.
“The trust has achieved 99% of its target of installation of solar lights. Around 50 lights have been distributed to temples and schools for free. Koraga beneficiaries were given the lamps at a subsidized rate of Rs 3,000; while SCs, STs beneficiaries were given lamps at a subsidized rate of Rs 2,000. Amasebail has been declared as the first fully solar gram panchayat in Udupi district at a function held on April 27, 2017,” he added.
An expert said, “It is the first time in the state that an entire GP has solar lighting in all their houses. The project will be a model one for the entire nation. This is decentralization of the solar scheme. We usually concentrate on centralized schemes. The cost for installation of two solar lamps was Rs 9,900 and four solar lamps were Rs 16,000. The beneficiaries will have to pay just Rs 3,000 for two solar lamps and Rs 6,000 for four solar lamps. The rest of the amount will be paid by the government. We will provide 5 years of free servicing of lamps to beneficiaries.”
An expert said, “As this is a forest and Naxalite-affected region, during monsoon we hardly have electricity. Most of the time either tree fall on electric poles or electric poles gets uprooted, which disrupts electricity supply to homes in Amasebailu. Solar lamps at each household will give us relief from power disruptions, and this is the reason for implementing the project. We have extended maximum loan facilities to villagers so that they can access the facility. Yet some houses have not participated in the scheme. We hope they do so in the future.
