Remote Kargil village finally gets electrified

Tribune News Service

Kargil, December 1

Located 13,000 feet above the sea level, Batambis, a remote village in Kargil district, has received electricity for the first time. This has happened with the use of the latest cutting-edge technology of DC solar microgrids.

The village, which is located about 55 km away from Kargil, has over 60 households and a population of 700. It remains cut-off for more than five months a year due to heavy snowfall. Sometimes the mercury plunges to minus 30° Celsius here. Besides electricity, the village also had no mobile connectivity. For making a phone call, villagers still need to walk to a top of a mountain pass at a height of 14,000 feet to get access to mobile signals.

The village was powered up by solar energy in three days due to the efforts of social enterprise Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE), Kargil Renewable Energy Development Authority (KREDA) and the EICHER Group Foundation. Having total installed capacity of about 6 KW, Batambis has got over 450 energy-efficient DC LED lights. It has three-day of power back-up in case of cloudy weather. The project was inaugurated by Kargil SSP T Gyalpo, KREDA Project Director Kacho Ahmad Ali Khan and Councillor Choskore Sheikh Mohammad Raza.

Speaking on the occasion, Gyalpo appreciated the efforts made by the GHE’s team of young engineers — Paras Loomba and Jaideep Bansal — and the Eicher Group Foundation for sponsoring the village for the project.

Later, the SSP gave Rs 30,000 to provide winter coaching to the children of the village.

While GHE team leader Shakir said they had electrified 53 villages in Ladakh, Eicher Group Foundation’s Gaurav Sharma said their collaboration with GHE was aimed at bringing development to the remote areas of the country. Kacho Ahmed Khan said, “We have been working with GHE for the past three years to bring access to energy to all remote villages in Kargil district and have electrified several villages so far.”