Murugamma had gone to Coimbatore and returned to Kottapalayam at night by the last bus. She walked home briskly. Upon reaching home she immediately dispatched her 10 year old daughter to fetch water from the community tap. She sat down to catch her breath. Then she realised that just three years ago this would not have been possible in Kottapalayam - neither the return by the last bus nor fetching of water at that hour.

Kottapalayam is a neat and tidy village. The 50 houses including Murugamma's are laid out in a grid of clean unpaved roads. They are modest, functional homes with simple clean architectural lines - red tiled roofs and bright white walls. One can see some livestock near a few homes and the chicken take the liberty to fly up on to the "thinnai"- the raised plinth that forms the shady verandahs. Kottapalayam is one of the 10 hamlets of Vavipalayam Panchayat and is reachable in an hour and half by bus from Coimbatore or Kovai as it is called locally, Tamil Nadu's second largest city.

When, I first visited Kottapalayam in 2004, it was a sunbathed village during the day and totally dark at night. Like most villages in Tamil Nadu, it too was "electrified", but being connected to the power grid and getting predictable power supply are two different things. Back then Murugamma would never have taken the last bus and no child in the village would have gone to the community tap for water in the dark.

Today, 10 photovoltaic (solar) powered street lights serve the village. They are owned by the Vavipalayam panchayat, which pays no electric bill for these. The hardworking men and women, mostly landless or subsistence farmers are proud of their street lights. "Iruttu Kottalapalaththil lightu eriyudu"; "In dark Kottapalayam now lights burn " they rejoice.

Technically the installation of street lights is quite simple; but what makes this venture unique and interesting is the process of how it came about. The initiative for this came from Sundaramoorthy and Senthil Arumugan of Sindhanai Sirpigal a local NGO. They introduced infraSys, a Bangalore based company, which invests in small enterprises and in infrastructure development in rural India, to Jeyabalakrishnan, the enthusiastic and energetic Project Officer of Coimbatore District Rural Development Agency (DRDA).

The deal arrived at was simple. The Government of Tamil Nadu would provide a grant for Rs100,000. infraSys would invest an equal amount and would recover its investment with nominal returns in three years. Vavipalaym Panchayat would then own the lights and reap the projected savings, over the next 20 years, of Rs 300,000.

Democratic process and transparency required that this arrangement be approved by villagers and the panchayat. On January 28, 2004 the citizens of Vavipalayam in the Gram Sabha (Village assembly) passed a resolution to enter into a contract with infraSys for the solar street lights. This was finalized at the DRDA offices in February and the financing was in place. Under the DRDA's guidance the lights were installed in May 2004.

This is an example of what could be duplicated in many Indian villages for many projects involving public good. A collaboration of an NGO, a private company and local and state governments made this happen.

I returned to Kottapalayam in February of 2005 arriving at dusk to see the lights come on as darkness descended around us. The residents are very proud of their street lights. They can now see the path of travel at night; they can see the movements of snakes, if any; the children stretch their play time outdoors and best of all these lights are predictably on, with power cuts having no effect on them!

Though the locations of the lights were arrived at democratically, there are some locations that are still being debated by the residents. But two lights are spared of all criticism. The first is located almost directly above the community tap from where Murugamma's daughter went to fetch water that night.

The other light has a different significance. Every Tuesday evening two Men's Self Help Groups (not as common as Women's) meet and transact their group's affairs and hold their meeting under this particular light. It is worth noting that these groups were formed after the installation of the street light. Everyone believes that there is a connection! I do too.

There are more stories to share… after the sun sets…under the soalr street lights…in village India.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The author can be reached at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Important Links

infraSys
1373 24th Main, BSK 2nd Stage
Bengalooru 560 070
Visit www.infraysys.biz

Sindhanai Sirpigal
www.sslindia.org
3/209,Vavipalayam,
Kethanur
Via Palladam
Coimbatore District
Tamil Nadu
641671

D.Sundaramoorthy &
Senthil Kumar Arumugan
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it