Under project Roshni, the Indian Army Bhaderwah-based counter-insurgency unit Rashtriya Rifles has installed solar lights in poor and remote villages of Thanhala and Ganori-Kahara located in Jammu and Kashmir Doda district.
About 17,000 solar lights have been distributed so far by the Rashtriya Rifles in the villages of the district. Army initial aim was to light up 5,000 homes and Dhoks or mud houses, according to PTI.
The Army further plans to help more such remote villages. Once identified, the Army would install 20 to 30 solar lamps in each village, officials from the unit were quoted as saying by PTI.
The Army told PTI that the initiative was launched after it was felt that electricity was the most critical requirement in far-flung areas during interactions with people, including the floating population of nomadic Gujjar and Bakherwal communities.
Off-grid solar solutions come as a boon to people in the far-flung areas of the country, especially in the inhospitable terrains of Jammu and Kashmir where grid connectivity is a problem.