Life becomes easier, safer as solar lamps illuminate Raipura

Solar street lamps installed in Raipura municipality in Narsingdi make the lives of locals easier as they can now move within their locality safely at nighttime.

In the last monsoon, when Mukter Hossain was returning home from Raipura town on a stormy night, conventional street lights went out of order suddenly due to power disruption. He got panicked thinking how he would go home on such a rainy night as darkness shrouded everywhere.

But, Mukter noticed that some solar-powered lamps were illuminating the streets, which made him encouraged to go home on foot under the light as there was no vehicle on roads because of bad weather.

A resident of Hasimpur of Raipura, Mukter had returned home that night without facing troubles despite the adverse weather.

“Locals are getting benefited because of the solar lamps installed by Raipura municipality. Now they can return home during night easily,” he said.

Mukter recalled that once many areas of Raipura town were robbery-prone and the locals became anxious while getting out of their homes in fear of dacoits.

But, he said, the number of robbery incidents declined significantly after the recent installation of solar-powered street lamps, improving the law and order situation.

About the benefits of the solar lights, Mukter said: “A solar light was installed near our community graveyard. If any person dies in the evening, he or she can be buried even at night, using the solar lamp.”

Raipura Pourashava under the Local Government Division installed 160 solar-powered lamps in its area under a Tk 2 crore project titled ‘Solar-powered street lamps installation in Raipura Municipality aiming to cope with adverse impacts of climate change.

The project was implemented in fiscal 2019-20 with financial support from Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF).

Joynal Abedin, a shopkeeper, said when the sun sets, the lanes of his locality would have gone under darkness and people wanted to avoid those lanes at night.

“After the evening, people did not want to come to my shop in front of the municipality office. But, now they visit my shop until midnight after installation of solar lights,” he said.

Shukur Mahmud, an employee of Maa Enterprise at Raipura Bazar, said the solar lamps help improve security here as people now can move in Raipura town more safely.

“Now we feel more secured after installation of solar lamps. We thank Raipura municipality for this,” he added.

Dhiman Chanda Roy, project director and former assistant engineer of Raipura Municipality, said 160 solar lamps were installed in the municipality area under the Taka two-crore project.