People in more than 80 per cent of the villages are awaiting installation of solar street lights
Nearly a year and a half after the ambitious Mukhyamantri Gramin Solar Street Light Scheme was launched in Bihar, most of the streets and narrow lanes in rural areas still remain engulfed in darkness at night.
People in more than 80 per cent of the villages are awaiting installation of solar street lights, according to data shared by the state’s Panchayati Raj department.
In 2022, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launched the scheme to light rural streets with solar LED lamps. It was decided that more than a million solar street lights will be installed in 1,109,647 wards of over 8,000 Gram Panchayats across the state.
It was also part of the plan to promote green or clean energy in the rural areas. But the implementation of the much publicised scheme is happening at a snail’s pace and lagging behind the target, official data revealed.
Till date only 106,161 solar street lights have been installed in the villages, according to Panchayat Nischay Soft, an official digital platform of Bihar Panchayati Raj Department that shares data of different ongoing schemes. It is far behind the target as 669,699 solar street lights should have been installed in hundreds of Gram Panchayats across the state.
Taking note of the slow progress of it, a top officer of the state’s Panchayati Raj Department issued a directive to the district magistrates of all the districts to speed up work of installation of solar street lights as per the target.
The department had set a target of about 300,000 solar street lights to be installed in the Gram Panchayats in the state till March 31, 2024. Going by the official data of work under progress, the state is unlikely to achieve the target, especially because installation of solar street lights is yet to start in at least three districts. Besides, in over half a dozen districts, progress to install solar street lights is only on paper.
The department has directed concerned officials to start the work of installation of solar street lights in those districts where it hasn’t begun. It added that the online monitoring arrangement has been made for installing solar street lights to ensure functioning and proper maintenance.
However, Alok Kumar, officer on special duty in the Panchayati Raj department, who is in charge of the solar street light project, refused to share any data or details of the progress of the scheme.
Govind Chaudhary, deputy secretary in the Panchayati Raj department, admitted that the implementation of the scheme has been very slow so far. But, he claimed, nearly 400,000 solar street lights were installed and the remaining will be installed by the end of the year to achieve the target.
When he was asked that official data was not supporting his claim of a target number of solar street lights installed, Choudhary said he included the figures of all the ongoing work to install poles and solar street lights.
Even going by Choudhary’s figure, the number of solar street lights is less than 40 per cent of the target.
The ground reality of solar street lights is also telling a different story. Take for instance Purhara Gram Panchayat under Haspura block in Aurangabad district. Not a single solar street light was installed till date in this Gram Panchayat.
“Till date, no solar street light was installed in my panchayat or any panchayat in Haspura block. We were informed last year that work will start soon but nothing happened,” Furqan Khan, chief of Purhara panchayat, said.
His voice was echoed by several chiefs about the poor progress of solar street lights in their respective districts.
On the other hand, Aakanksha Basu, chief of Meghauna panchayat under the Alauli block in Khagaria district, said till date some solar street lights were installed in four of the 23 wards of her panchayat. “I was informed that solar street lights will be installed in the remaining wards. Villagers are waiting for it.”
CM Nitish Kumar, at the time of launching of the scheme, had announced that this will change the face of rural areas in the next two years. The government, he had added, has decided to instal 10 solar lights in each ward of the Gram Panchayat.
The government officials said the solar street light scheme was started with financial assistance from the Centre under the 15th Finance Commission to boost basic infrastructure in rural areas. The state government had received Rs 1,100 crore, a portion of that used for installing solar street lights.
The government has hired dozens of private agencies to carry out the work solar street lights.
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