Maharashtra: In a remote village near Raigad border, 46 households light up for the first time

While Chandar is located near the border of Pune and Raigad districts, Takevasti is located on an adjoining hilltop, and has only 10 households. On another nearby hilltop is Digevasti, which has only 18 households. After media reports highlighted that Chandar village was still living in darkness, Sanjeev Kumar, chief managing director of MSEDCL, instructed officers of the power utility to take steps to provide electricity to the village.
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Setting up power infrastructure on the hillock was a daunting task,” said Sanjay Taksande, regional director, MSEDCL, Pune. Work started on April 20 with almost 60 workers, said P S Patil, chief public relations officer of MSEDCL. Necessary equipment such as electric poles, transmission lines and other technical equipment were ferried to the village within a single day. The distribution transformer and high tension lines were installed on April 26.

Power was provided in three different directions at Chandar, Digevasti and Takevasti through 440 volts of low-tension lines from the transformer at the hilltop. Electricity was provided through the nine poles to Digevasti, set up near the power transformer.

“Providing electricity to Chandar village proved to be the most difficult task,” said Patil. Among the many challenges faced by MSEDCL officials was finding way to bring water to the site. Since it was not possible to bring tankers to the inaccessible region, water was brought in barrels.

The total cost of supplying electricity to the region was approximately Rs 20 lakh, said MSEDCL officials.
Chandar resident Dinaram Sangle and a primary school in the village were among the first ones to receive electricity connections.

Power supply has been provided to a total of 98,356 hamlets in the state and by December this year, the remaining 1,704 hamlets will also receive electricity connections, said Patil.