While residents of Meenakshipuram are ecstatic over introduction of solar power in their homes in October 2013, they still want power connection.
Under efforts taken by the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD), more than 35 houses in the village were initially equipped with solar panels which powered bulbs to light up the homes. At present, more than 95 per cent of the households have solar panels and the district administration is working towards making the village fully solar-powered
The villagers told a team of visiting officials on Thursday that while the solar panels provided power for the lights, they did not support other electrical appliances.
“There is one diesel generator here which we occasionally use to charge small invertors. Other than that, we are not able to use mixers, tape recorders or any small appliance in our homes,” said L. Kala, a resident.
P. Selvam, another resident, said they had been appealing for electricity connections for the last 20 years.
“We also believe that if the road connectivity is made better, it will facilitate electricity connections. We are currently using the diesel generator to pump water from wells to the overhead tank and the process is very cumbersome,” he added.
