Solar power for urban poor in Kolkata

The project would cost Rs 3.15 lakh of which the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency would bear 30 per cent subsidy and the remaining would be funded by Tech Mahindra.

Some 100-odd poor families living in an area of north Kolkata would possibly be the first in West Bengal to get solar home lighting systems with the help of three NGOs.

“We have decided to light up the homes of 100 poor families living without electricity in Bagbazar area in north Kolkata with solar photovoltaic home lighting modules to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda,” D. Ashis, General Secretary of Medical Bank, one of the NGOs, told PTI.

“We have seen that children from these homes have passed school studying under street lights,” Ashis said.

The solar lights would be provided in two phases before the pujas.

The project is being conceptualised and implemented by Medical Bank, and two other NGOs Ichhe Dana and Amar Adhikar.