Staff Reporter, Rangpur :
The installation of Solar Power Plant has changed the lot and socio-economic life of thousands of vulnerable people living in remote char areas of Teesta River basin at Showlmari – Vhotmari union under Kaligonj upazilla of Lalmonirhat district.
Around 15 thousand people live in the char areas of the unions who are mainly erosion hit. They became landless and vulnerable. The absence of minimum basic amenities including education and medical facilities made their life tougher. It seemed that people were living on an isolated island. Villagers were estranged from the upazilla and district headquarters due to lack of road communication. To reach upazilla and district town, villagers need to traverse the long char areas and cross the river. Scarcity of job sources in the villages led the people to depend on fishing in the river, seasonal farming the char lands, and rearing cattle for their livelihood. They have to fight back with nature during floods, winter, and draughts for their survival. Union Parishad member, Abdul Matin said, he was a part of the distressed community. He tried several times to do something beneficial for the hard-core people. But the absence of road communication hindered the possibilities.
Intraco Solar Power Ltd had begun the work last year to set up a 30-megawatt power plant in the char areas under the government’s electric power supply extension scheme. The company initially found it difficult to bring the materials and pieces of equipment for the site area as there was no direct road communication. They erected two bailey bridges, eighteen culverts to smoothen roads, and four-kilometer-long embankment to protect the river erosion. The site work is going fast to bring the remote villages under power supply setting up electric polls from 3-4 kilometers away. Many of the char dwellers have been engaged in the construction work and getting wages to support their families.
Intraco Solar Power Plant Ltd, Director Operation, Abdul Halim said, Solar Power Plant is an exemplary measure of the government to ease the power shortage in the country. The generated power from the plant would be added to the central grid. Power supply from the plant would change the socio-economic life creating job opportunities for the vulnerable people living in remote areas. The operation of the power plant will start from the following September, he added.
Many of the char people told the correspondent that the power plant is a blessing to them. Roads and culverts were made in the remote areas to connect upazilla and district headquarters for easy communication centering the power plant.
They were working in the site areas and getting financial benefits which they could not imagine earlier. Moreover, it would change their lot. Small mills and factories will be set up in the areas with the access of electricity and the villagers will get job opportunities to ease their sufferings.
When asked, Deputy Commissioner, Lalmonirhat, Abu Jafor said, the solar power plant will play a great role in improving the economic condition of the people in remote char areas of the district and to implement the commitment of the government to supply power in every house across the country.
