Improper maintenance fails India’s First Solar Village Bancha, Betul

In 2021, Bancha village in the Betul district of Madhya Pradesh became a solar village, and was discussed profoundly. Here, under the guidance of IIT Mumbai and ONGC, Bharat Bharati Shiksha Samiti installed solar cooktops running on solar energy in 74 houses. With its help, the villagers not only got freedom from the smoke of the stove but were also freed from the burden of expensive gas cylinders. However, today in the year 2023, this village is again burning in the fire of the same smoke and expensive gas cylinders as the installed solar cooktops have stopped working.

Anil Uike of Bancha village told Ground Report that,

“These solar cooktops have stopped working for the last two years. The local technicians here are not able to fix the problems. Cooktops have been be sent to Aurangabad(Maharashtra) for repairing.”

How did Bancha Solar Village become?

In the year 2016-17, ONGC organized a solar cooktop design competition in which the students of IIT Mumbai developed a solar cooktop that could run on solar energy. This cooktop consumed three units of electricity a day, and could easily cook two meals a day for a family of 4. Each solar cooktop cost Rs 70,000, and this cost was borne by ONGC. And, this is how Bancha became a solar village. IIT Mumbai had also given training to two people in the village for repairing these cooktops. However, the defects were not within their skills to repair.

What were the benefits of solar cooktops?

Premti of Bancha village tells that,

“Except for making rotis, we used to do all the work on the cooktop... our wood consumption had reduced... If this machine of ours gets repaired, we will start cooking on it again.”

Anil Uike says,

“Mostly people of the tribal community live here... they have to bring wood from the forest. When the solar cooktop worked well for two years, it became much easier for the women. But since it has stopped working, people have to go back to cooking by burning wood. We request our government to get it rectified as soon as possible.”

Ramdas Uike says

“Gas cylinder is very expensive, we do not earn enough in a month to get the gas cylinder filled. The solar cooktop made our work easier"

Why did the solar cooktop of Bancha village get damaged?

Now the food can no longer be cooked on cooktop run through solar panels. However, people are still able to light one or two lights in their homes with it. The village technician told the ground report that,

“There is a dust problem here which has ruined the cooktop. How to maintain it properly? People don't even have this information. For this reason, most of the cooktops in the village are not working. IIT Bombay had specially developed these cooktops so that they could run on solar energy. We do not have its parts, they will be sent to Aurangabad for repair but it will take a lot of time.”

The people of Bancha village have played an important role in becoming a solar village. They not only learned how to run a solar cooktop, and also used it to the fullest. However, in all such innovations, after making headlines and garnering applause, no attention is paid to the plans and the basic purpose of doing it. There is a need to develop such models in which maintenance facilities can be provided at the local level and the agencies implementing it should learn from it and correct their mistakes.

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