After the 1962 war between India and China ended, 30 Tibetan families migrated to India and settled in a village called Dungti. It became one of the first Tibetan Refugee villages and lies very close to the LAC.??
Believe it or not, since 1962, the village has lived in darkness as there is no electricity. But that changed this year. On February 4, 2021, a team of four Ladakhi engineers working with the Global Himalayan Expedition lit it up using solar energy, as per a report in The Better India. For the first time in almost six decades, the village got to experience the magic of electricity.
Getting there is not easy. It's 7 hours by road from Leh. After one passes Nyoma, one crosses the Loma bridge and takes a left via an unpaved road to Dungti and Demchock.?
¡°In the past eight years, we have electrified about 100 villages in Ladakh with solar-based DC electricity. But we realised that not a single project was done in a TR village. In the past, we had crossed Dungti while travelling to Demchok. We knew of its existence but weren¡¯t sure whether the village had electricity or not. Prior to the project, we surveyed the village and found that it was in darkness for nearly 60 years,¡± says lead engineer Shakir Hussain.?
The engineers saw that around 80% of the village had permanent residents and in winter the temperatures could be as low as -30 degrees. The village is around 14,000 feet above sea level.?
When an 8.6 KW setup was established, every house got a solar nano grid with three LED lights and two LED batons alongside USB charging facilities. They also put up 10 solar LED street lights plus electrified the local community hall and monastery where the villagers pray on a regular basis.?
¡°We took about five days to electrify the village. I was accompanied by three solar engineers from GHE. Having said that, there were some real challenges. Residents there lived in homes with just two small rooms and initially, they didn¡¯t have much living space where we could lay our head down. But they were kind enough to adjust themselves and let us live in one of their homes. Another challenge was the biting cold, but once again the villagers were kind enough to burn dried goat dung all through the night to keep us warm,¡± he added.?
¡°It¡¯s so cold in these parts that wiring is difficult, particularly outside the house. We sometimes have to take the wiring inside, heat it up next to the bukhari, and then cut it,¡± said Gurmet Angmo who is the team's solar engineer.?
¡°Residents living in this Zero Border village have suffered for years without the benefit of modern amenities like electricity. Despite requests in the past to various authorities, we received no electricity. I had never seen electricity since my childhood and we¡¯ve been here since 1962. For nearly 60 years, we lived in darkness," said Lobzang who is the village headman or Goba as he is called.?
The village is shining brightly now and what these 4 have achieved by braving the cold is no short of a miracle. ????