On one side, where Rajasthan is flourishing in every crucial sector, some villages are still deprived of very basic amenities. Electricity is one core issue towards which Rajasthan government is putting all regular efforts. The efforts are not going futile as Sarguwala village of Barmer district will finally be able to see the beam of light during night hours as well. Electricity was such rarity in this small village that, many aged dwellers never thought of seeing electric light in their whole lifetime. For example, Neem Singh, who is 82 years old, had left all hopes of having electric power in his house. In fact, his three previous generations had spent their entire time without the convenience of an electric connection.
The villagers had a moment in the sun when Neem Singh’s house lit up in the dark hours. This could be made possible under Chief Minister Rural Electrification Scheme. With the help of solar energy, 18 villages of this district got connected with the solar connections of electricity.
Under this scheme, government has made sure that, every house get 5 LED bulbs, a charging socket and a ceiling fan. Bhaktar Singh, who is 47 years old belong to Dhundoda village talks about the earlier times when the kerosene lamps were the only option to light up their lives.
These solar electricity connections have been provided by Jodhpur DISCOM with 1,420 power connections. They made this arrangement for 9 villages which come under Desert National Park (DNP). These connections brought the total cost of about Rs. 2.92 crore.
The first phase of the scheme brought the rays of hopes for 650 BPL families and 770 above poverty line families.
These villages have got the grace of electricity under the leadership of Manvendra Singh, who is a BJP leader. He highlighted this issue in the state assembly from the year 2004 to 2009 while he was MP from Barmer.
After this, he has been trying to connect the villages to Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana to get them better facilities. DNP areas have been deprived from these basic facilities because of the need of preservation of natural habitat in these areas. With changing times and needs, government is arranging as much relaxation as possible for them with keeping in view that ecology of these areas remain undisturbed. The second phase is aiming to illuminate at least 1,400 hamlets.
