Shinnyu village of Nagaland is located on the Indo-Myanmar border. The day of February 16, 2021 is especially important for the people here. In fact, on this date, this village of Mon district got electricity for the first time after 44 years and the bamboo torches were given rest.
On that day as the electrician lit the solar powered bulbs, 60 families of Konyak Naga community were filled with joy.
Some expressed their desire to get a mobile phone, while some planned to organize a social function at night. The children studying were also relieved due to the facility of electricity. Tears welled up in people’s eyes in joy. They also distributed sweets on this special occasion.
The village also has a primary school, a guest house, a community hall and a church. This village (Nagaland Village) was established in 1977 and was officially recognized in 2002. Located at a distance of 12 hours from the district headquarter, this village is one of the remotest villages in the country. The nearest town from here, Tobu, is six hours away.
Due to lack of good connectivity, this village is cut off from the rest of the world. Leave good internet facility here, even roads are hard to find.
Eventually, a social media post by John Khanganyu, a teacher teaching in a government school, erased the darkness in the village forever and gave them a new light.
33-year-old John was posted in the village six years ago. He had to walk for about 12 hours to reach here. Originally from Tobu, John had to travel for hours to charge his phone’s battery.
He says, “I was surprised to see that this village is completely cut off from the world. Due to darkness, the children had to go out of the village for their studies. Women found it difficult to go to the toilet at night and had to do all the work from home before dusk. That’s why I appealed to people on social media for help.”
In his Facebook post, he wrote about the lack of electricity, mobile network, bad roads, health and education facilities.
This post was seen by a Facebook friend of John and he helped John join Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) in 2019. Let us tell you that this organization is known for making access to electricity easier by installing micro solar grids in remote villages (Nagaland Village).
As per the instructions of GHE, John conducted a survey on the electricity requirements in the village. Then, the organization joined hands with the Mon district administration to take the project off the ground under CSR. The total cost of this project was Rs 23 lakh.
Then, a 10-member team of officials, GHE members and engineers, after a long journey of about 16 hours, reached Shinnyu village and installed micro solar grids in every household apart from public places like schools and churches.
Today, every house here has 170 watt solar panels, batteries, two mobile charging points, two tube lights and three LED bulbs, while the number of solar street lights is 11.
The villagers were very excited about the installation of solar power grid in the village and they arranged for the accommodation and food for the technicians. He also decided to deposit Rs 100 every month for its maintenance. Three people from the village also took training for the care and maintenance of solar panels.
In this way, we can understand how social media can make a big difference in society apart from easily connecting with our friends and family. Just need to use it properly.
Original article – Gopi Karelia
Editing – G N Jha
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