Khunti, 21 July (Hindustan Times). The ambitious Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana of the central government was limited to only middle class women. The poor families of the village stopped using gas. Women say that they do not have enough money to buy a gas cylinder by paying Rs 1200 every month. This is the reason that today poor women from far and wide cook food by bringing wood from the forests. Due to this, the smoke started affecting the health of women. Seeing this, the women of the village are now using smokeless chulhas.
Singha Dulwa village of Kunjala Panchayat of Murhu block is situated at a distance of five kilometers from Khunti district headquarters. Only scheduled tribe people live in the village. 238 people from 34 families reside in the village. Being a tribal-dominated area, the people of the village lacked knowledge about clean energy solutions. People use traditional chulhas for cooking. In this, the stove was lit with wood, dung cakes and kerosene. Due to this the whole house used to get filled with smoke. This had an effect on the family. At the same time, wood also used to be more and then the cutting of forests and trees started.
Later, the women of the village came to know about the race project of the voluntary organization Leeds. On the request of the women, under the RACE project, the Leeds organization formed the Village Clean Energy Committee in the village. In its monthly meeting, people were informed about clean energy and they were motivated to use smokeless stoves. Later he was informed about the construction of smokeless chulha. Today, out of 38 families in the village, smokeless chulhas are being used in 28 families.
The women of the village, Lalita Bhengra and Jouni Mundine, say that in the meeting of the Village Clean Energy Committee, it was decided that smokeless stoves would be constructed to make all the families of the village free from smoke. He told that the smokeless stove is manufactured in a mould. Iron rod, brick etc. are used in its construction. He told that with the use of this chulha, Singh Dulva village is now moving towards becoming a smoke-free village.
