To reach village Gewali, one requires lot of strength and courage to cover a distance of 15 kms on foot, which is a very rough and tough hilly terrain. The remotest village is located at 7000 ft. altitude in Himalayan range in Bhilangana block of Tehri Garhwal district. This village would not have been electrified for next ten to twenty years considering its difficulty in accessibility. Gram Vikas Panchayat Smaiti, an NGO in the village was not, however, prepared to wait for so long to get electricity from the government. Bachan Singh Rawat, the young Chairman of NGO and his equally dynamic team, who were actively involved in welfare programmes in various villages, started thinking about the electrification of the village seriously. In 1996, they came in contact with FORRAD, a German agency, which suggested them the idea of installing a micro-hydel power project. An expert from FORRAD held discussions with NGO and villagers on feasibility of the project. Impressed with their determination, FORRAD indicated its willingness to grant assistance for the project and also sanctioned Rs 20,000 for meeting start up expenses. The next task before the NGO was to obtain permission for using water-stream and land for power generation. It took one year to obtain the necessary permission from the District Administration. FORRAD finally provided financial and technical assistance to NGO in September 1999 which included supply of machinery (worth Rs 3.28 lakh), training of NGO personnel and cash assistance of Rs 1.70 lakh. The remaining expenditure of Rs 4.00 lakh was contributed by villagers(Rs. 1.64 lakh) and Gram Vikas Panchayat Samiti(Rs. 2.36 lakh). The project having installed capacity of 25 KW has been completed with total cost of Rs. 9.00 lakh only.
Challenging task before NGOs
The most difficult challenge before NGO and villagers was to carry heavy machinery from Binayakhal (the nearest road-head) to Gewali village, which means scaling 15 km on steep slopes on a narrow path through thick forest. Determined, as they were ready to face any challenge to electrify their village, villagers assigned the responsibility to transport heavy machinery, which included 39 mild steel pipes, a turbine and an alternator to each household. Villagers contributed money and awarded contract to Nepali labourers to carry the machinery. After transporting machinery partly, Nepalis were instigated by a few disgruntled persons from other villages to abandon the contract. Villagers decided to overcome this hurdle too. They decided to transport the remaining pipes and heavy machinery themselves. They also sought co-operation from residents of the nearby village, Jakhana. To gather enough strength and forge unity, villagers even performed pooja of ‘Gramdevta’ before setting out on this difficult mission. Alternator machine was so heavy that it took as many as 30 persons at a time to carry it.
Training by FORRAD
Two persons from NGO were trained by FORRAD in Delhi for 18 days on Technical and maintenance aspects of the project.
About the Project
The Gewali micro-hydel project has installed capacity for generating 25KW electricity. Almost 70 households in the village have been electrified and each household has been given electric connection with monthly tariff of Rs 26.00 only. The maintenance work is being looked after by 2 persons trained by FORRAD with monthly wages of Rs 500 per person. NGO proposes to involve SHGs in the village to monitor and supervise the maintenance, collection of tariff and prevent misuse of power by the consumers.
The NGO is contemplating to share the surplus power generated with the nearest village viz. Jakhana. On long term prospects the NGO is of the view that apart from domestic use, it would be possible for household to start power operated non-farm sector enterprises in future. NGO is planning to start work on wool based products as at present villagers are facing the problem of disposing 10,000 kg of wool, produced annually, in the area.
Social and Environmental Implications
- The Micro-hydel project has been installed without inflicting even a minor damage to the environment.
- Since elaborate distribution / transmission system was not involved, the dense forest surrounding the villages were not affected.
- The village could have never got the power supply even after long 30 years because of the following reasons
In the absence of proper road stretch of 15 km, the transportation of related material would be a great problem. The construction of road in that area may not become feasible for the Govt. even for the years to come.
Area being occupied by dense forest, getting permission from the forest department would have been an uphill task for the villagers and electricity department.
Potential available
The marvelous work done by the NGO and the villagers of Gewali opens up vast potential for setting up of commercial min-hydel power projects in the entire districts with loan assistance from Banks. Encouraged by the response from the people and sincere efforts made by the NGO, FORRAD along with NGO has identified few more such projects in area having similar situation.
Advantage of Micro-hydel project
Micro-hydel could be operationalised in a span of 2 years without affecting even single family. The overhead expenses are negligible and no maintenance expenditure is there. The people are enjoying uninterrupted power supply just by paying Rs 26 per month. As elaborate distribution system is not there, the power transmission loss is negligible.
Commissioning of project
The project was commissioned on 12 November 2001 and the project is being managed by ‘Urja Panchayat’ comprising of 4 men and 2 women taken out of the consumers.
P N Sarangal
AGM-DDO Tehri Garhwal
A Success story of Micro-Hydel Power Project, promoted by NGO, at remotest village Gewali, of District Tehri Garhwal.
Salient features of the projects |
