Bhubaneswar: Nadigaon village under Dhamnagar block in Bhadrak district was officially declared as Odisha’s first Model Solar Village on Thursday.
A district-level function was organised at the Dhamnagar Panchayat Samiti office under the Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. Minister for Higher Education, Sports & Youth Affairs, and Odia Language, Literature & Culture, Suryavanshi Suraj, attended as the chief guest and made the announcement.
The programme was chaired by District Collector Dilip Routray. It was attended by Zilla Parishad Chief Development Officer Shuvendra Samal, Minister’s representative Ashok Kumar Puhan, Nadigaon Sarpanch Jharamna Majhi, Chief Engineer (Solarization) of TPNODL Rajiv Nayak, Superintending Engineer Bhupendranath Sahu, Assistant Director (Technical) of OREDA Asima Arunima and others.The Model Solar Village programme is a key component of the Prime Minister’s Surya Ghar Yojana aimed at promoting solar energy-based rural development.
Under this initiative, one Model Solar Village will be developed in every district across the country. A district-level committee headed by the District Collector has been formed for effective implementation and monitoring of the scheme. In the last three months, officials assessed 12 villages in Bhadrak district with a population of over 5,000 for solar project installations.
Nadigaon secured the top position by successfully installing 119 kilowatts of solar power capacity. Following this achievement, solar-based infrastructure projects will be implemented in the village with central government approval and financial assistance. These include solar street lights, solar water supply systems, solar air-conditioned storage rooms and other solar-powered facilities. These works will be executed through the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA).
In Nadigaon, 195 families were found eligible under the ULA model of solarisation, out of which 115 families have already completed the work. Minister Suryavanshi Suraj, in the presence of the Sarpanch, urged the remaining 80 families to complete solarisation at the earliest.
To boost participation, TPNODL set up a spot registration desk at the Dhamnagar Block Office, allowing residents to register directly and avail the benefits of the scheme.Public representatives, senior officials from various departments, and a large number of villagers were present during the event.
