India's first community power plant in Nagaland

Moving a step further in consolidating the unique community strength in Nagaland, the country's first community-constructed mini hydro-electric power plant has been successfully commissioned at Chizami village in Phek district of the state.

Funded by the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, the 100x2 KW power plant was jointly set up by the village councils of Chizami village and nearby Sumi village with technical assistance from Nagaland Renewable Energy Development Agency.

"This is the first time that any ministry under the Government of India sent a cheque worth Rs 1.29 crore directly to the village council for setting up of the project without routing it through the state government," said MNES Secretary A M Gokhale, who visited the project site recently.

Gokhale, who had earlier served as Deputy Commissioner of Phek district in the late seventies, exuded confidence that the two village councils would run the plant efficiently and urged the state power department to make arrangement for evacuating surplus electricity from the hydro-electric project.

Later, Gokhale inaugurated another community managed gasifier unit at Pfutseromi village in the same district where firewood is used to generate electricity.