Charitable mandals may light up homes

This year, Ganpati mandals in the city could extend their charitable activities to the rural outskirts of Mumbai by sponsoring special solar-powered lamps for homes.

This year, Ganpati mandals in the city could extend their charitable activities to the rural outskirts of Mumbai by sponsoring special solar-powered lamps for homes. The Clean Mumbai Foundation (CMF) and Ganeshotsav coordinating committee have jointly appealed for donations of at least Rs 2,000 from every mandal.

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“There are more than 12,000 mandals in Mumbai and each use tremendous amount of power. It is important for them to do something for the thousands of villages in Maharashtra, which have no electricity at all,” said Kunti Oza, founder and chairperson of CMF. The organisation has already tested solar lanterns, which are powered by mobile chargers, in Dapod Maad village, where villagers had to rely on kerosene lamps with low luminosity. “The campaign helped students study for more hours after sunset” added Oza.

The Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti is keen to support the campaign. “But we would not like to get involved in areas where there could be corruption involving government grants,” said Naresh Dahibawkar, president of the samiti.