Mumbai teen lights up lives in Assam villages

Dhruvraj Bhartia along-with Jyotirmoy Chatterji, co-founder of Project Chirag, singlehandedly set up 165 solar lamp units in the four villages

Dhruvraj Bhartia, a 17-year-old teenager from Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai, chose to use his summer vacation differently and decided to reach out to people of remote villages in Assam by providing solar lights where there was no electricity so far.

His dream is finally turning to reality as Nezone Biscuits, Tezpur agreed to sponsor the solar units in four villages -- Kamarpathar, Sirajuli, Bordubi and Habigaon near Dhekiajuli -- where there was no electricity.

Since 2010, Dhruvraj has been a senior youth ambassador with Project Chirag, an initiative of Chirag Rural Development Foundation, a Mumbai-based NGO.

Project Chirag, started by a group of college students, is involved in providing solar lighting to villages deprived of electricity and in the last five years has helped more than 45,000 villagers in six states of India.

For the last two days, Dhruvraj along-with Jyotirmoy Chatterji, Co-Founder of Project Chirag, single handedly set up 165 solar lamp units in the four villages.

"Renewable energy is the way forward in rural India, 25 per cent of India is seeped in poverty, if each one of us able citizen could contribute towards benefitting one family, we truly could develop an inclusive economy," Dhruvraj said at a meeting at one of the villages today.

Dhruvraj and Jyotirmoy also explained to the villagers how to use the lights and maintain it over a period of time.

The team looks forward to scaling up the initiative further and lighting up more villages in remote parts of Assam with support from corporates, individuals and in partnership with educational institutes, he said.

Image: Courtesy, Project Chirag

Note: The lead picture is used only for representational purpose