The lifestyle and socioeconomic condition of the isolated people living in the remote and hardly reachable char areas on the Brahmaputra basin has been changing fast by virtue of solar power. Some 150,000 char people are now using nearly 21,000 solar power nits set up with assistance of different government and non-government organisations in char areas of Rangpur, Nilphamari,Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Bogra ands Sirajganj districts. The Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) provides assistance to the concerned government and non-government organisations in promoting and popularising renewable and green energy, including solar power units, to achieve the success. Different NGOs and intuitions including BRAC, Grameen Shakti, RISDA Bangladesh, RDRS Bangladesh, Prottyasha, Rahim Afroz, Srijoni Bangladesh and many others have installed solar-power units at costs between Taka 12,000 to Taka 45,000 each. According to the concerned sources, over 2,000 solar power units have been set up in different char villages under Sadar, Nageswari, Bhurungamari, Chilmari, Ulipur, Rajarhat, Rajibpur and Roumari upazilas of Kurigram alone in recent years. People of Hatia, Buraburi, Anantapur, Bozra, Gunaigachh, Char Santoshbiram and Khamar Damarhat villages under Ulipur upazila in Kurigram are now using over 230 solar units provided by BRAC on easy installments. Similarly, many people of remote and hardly reachable char villages of Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Kurigram and Gaibandha are now using hundreds of solar power units set up with assistance of different NGOs and organisations. Agriculture and Environment Coordinator of RDRS Bangladesh Mamunur Rashid said his NGO has set up 1,410 solar power units for 1,410 families at Taka 13,000 per unit in the char villages of Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha and Nilphamari. The solar power users while talking to BSS said that they could hardly think even a decade ago about electricity in their remote and sandy char areas though it is a reality now as they can easily avail of this facility in their inaccessible char villages. The villagers as well as owners of the solar power units neither suffer from low-voltage, nor get irritated due to load shedding like those living in cities and towns and some of them were found crushing paddy at nights using electricity from the plants. Chairman of Astomirchar union Alhaj Sohrab Hossain in Chilmari upazila said the char people are now watching television, using fans, bulbs and refrigerators, charging mobile phone sets and operating some computers side by side with other daily jobs.
Besides, the government has provided solar power units to the Union Information Service Centres in remote char areas where the people are getting all necessary services and information at their doorsteps in hassle-free manner. Chilmari upazila chairman Shawkat Ali Sarker, Bir Bikram, said solar power has changed lifestyle in char areas where people are becoming aware about bad effects of drugs, child marriage, malnutrition, maternal and child mortalities, dowry and other issues. Students of different char villages Sohrab, 16, Msuma, 15, Ahad, 18, Taslima, 18, and Abdul Hakim, 17, said they study at nights getting uninterrupted service of solar power units and suggested for establishing higher capacity solar power units in char areas. Solar unit users of Grameen Shakti Saiful Islam of village Khamar Bari and Bimola Khatun and Noor Alam of village Byaparipara in Chilmari upazila said they are now getting uninterrupted supply of power using the solar technology. Editor of the Weekly Juger Khabar being published from Chilmari upazila town SM Nurul Amin Sarker said the char people are now lighting electric bulbs, enjoying TV programmes and their children studying at nights by virtue of solar energy. -BSS, Rangpur
