Moodbidri: They live in Ontedakaje, a forest area,  which is far away from the rural area, where electricity supply is just a dream, but that did not stop them enjoying its benefits – after producing it themselves!

Ontedakaje is in Panapila village, Dharegudde Gram panchayath which comes under Moodbidri hobli.

Everywhere the catchphrase is the same – Wastage of electricity in cities, and no electricity in rural areas. In this context, this achievement is commendable. The community produces electricity which is enough for three families.

Even though they do not have basic facilities, power supply has made them hope for better days ahead. In forest area its very diffcult to implement govt facilities. The smallest mini hydel power plant with 2KV installed in Ontedakaje has made people think that nothing is impossible in forest area too.

The State govt implemented smallest power supply scheme under Samagra Grameena Indhana shakti yojana through Energy Tech company of Koppa. The mini hydel plant was set up at a cost of 1.30lakh along with 10,000 each collected from three families of Ontedakaje.

Water flowing from hill has been stored in Kindi dam. Then it is released through 4 inch pipe to a 45 feet tank which is 600 feet away from the dam. Then the water is released through 6 inch pipe to Tarbo pipe to run this mini hydel power plant.

Thus the produced energy is connected through wires to the three houses of Sanjeeva Gowda, Narayana Gowda and Annu Gowda.

Electricity is supplied for 10 months in a year without any problem. Only in April and May is it halted due to a scarcity of water. The lack of disruption of the electricity produced is highly commendable especially when such disruptions are the norm in urban areas.

In last 7 months only once has the power supply been halted and this was due to a technical fault which was soon repaired.

Safety, however is a cause for concern, especially during the monsoon. The wires catch fire, due to short circuits caused by water or lightning. If this problem is solved by the experts then those inhabitants will be safe. The scheme needs to be upgraded so that they can get power supply whole year, which is the opinion by Daregudde Panchayath PDO Prashanth Shetty, president Subhaschandra Chowta and ex-president Monappa Moolya who visited the place along with reporters.

Ontedakaje is situated in Panapila village in Dharegudde Gram panchayath limits under Moodbidri Hobali. 12km away from Naravi in Moodbidri one can find Aliyoor village. In the hill there is a place called Umilukku in Panapila village. From there One can reach Ontedakaje after walking 2km of mud road and again 2km walk through forest area. In Tulu ‘Onte’ refers to one tree. In this place there one can find large number of ‘Onte’ trees thus the name has been kept for the place.

In this hilly area one can find Dharegudde and Renjala villages. In Ontedakaje the place which is far away from civic society, there are more than 300 Malekudiya community living from many years. Along with agriculture, they are dependent on only forest products.

Government needs to look into their issues and respond, not just let them fend for themselves.