NRO lights up Jahangirabad village, Bhubaneswar, with solar energy

KENDRAPARA: The people of Jahangirabad village in Cuttack's Salepur block will no longer have to spend their summer evenings and nights in the dark. All for US-based non-resident Odia (NRO) Durga Prasad Kar, who installed solar panels in the village. Now people can go about their work, watch TV and children can study after nightfall because of solar energy. "We were earlier very troubled by the power cuts and dim lights. But now solar energy has transformed our village. Our streets and houses are well lit," said Santosh, a villager.

"Life is so difficult if there is a power failure for a few hours. Recently, a power cut paralyzed life throughout the state. But in Jahangirabad, villagers got electricity throughout the night because of the solar panels. We are very thankful to Kar for it," said Akshya Das (50), a villager. Women are also having their share of fun. They can boil water and cook food in the solar cookers. The water starts boiling in eight minutes thanks to the solar energy. And the 2,000 villagers of Jahangirabad are thankful to Kar.

Kar, who was born and brought up in the village, is now a senior official of Intergrys Energy Group, Chicago. He did his post graduation in economics, business administration and electrical engineering. He has researched on the power industry and has shown that rural India cannot prosper with the expensive and unreliable power grid. He has proved in his PhD that renewable energy can accelerate rural economy for both economic independence and sustainable development without any need for long-term subsidies. He has completed his Ph.D. in Economics from Colorado School of Mines under Professor Carol Dahl.

"What I am today is because of my family and my village. I owe a lot to my motherland. Everyone should give something back to his family, village, state and country. I have started in a very small way. My wife Shreemayee Kar also helps me in my mission to develop my village. Each year, we spend three months in our village doing welfare work," Kar said.

Apart from providing solar lights, Kar had last year built a two-storied school building in his village in the memory of his father by spending Rs 20 lakh. He recently donated 20 laptops to students of the school. "It was my father who always inspired me to do something for the village," Kar said.