Srinagar, Mar 29: Extending eco-friendly lighting solutions to scheduled tribe (ST) community of district Ganderbal under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) plan, J&K Bank today distributed solar lanterns among one thousand households in collaboration with MOOL Sustainability Research and Training Centre (MSRTC) – a local NGO that works on different developmental projects for building integrative and regenerative communities through capacity building and creative solutions.
The Bank’s General Manager Syed Rais Maqbool handed over one solar lantern to each of the family belonging to the ST Community and other marginal sections at a local school in Lar, Ganderbal in presence of senior bank officials and representatives from MSRTC.
After receiving the lanterns, the beneficiaries extended their heartfelt gratitude to the Bank for providing them an eco-friendly and convenient means of lighting their homes. “These lanterns mean a lot to us and our children as we can now carry on our lives happily in case of power failure. For this we thank both the organisations and pray for their success”, some of the beneficiaries said.
Speaking on the occasion, Syed Rais Maqbool said, “As a responsible financial institution, we encourage CSR interventions that play a crucial role in supporting the under-privileged sections of our society. And we see provision of these solar lanterns to the ST community not merely as act of philanthropy but an investment in a more inclusive society geared towards an eco-friendly future.”
“For such empowering initiatives not only bring ease in the living conditions of these economically weaker sections of the society but contributes to the overall progress and well-being of the inhabitants of this place”, he added.
“The idea of this project is to engage with the local communities especially those from economically weaker sections and to encourage them to adapt the sustainable and eco-friendly solutions for their day to day problems through collaboration with credible NGOs like MSRTC”, he stated.
Notably, under the project a few villages around Chountwaliwar belt in the upper reaches of Lar Tehsil of Ganderbal district have been adopted for providing them an eco-friendly means of lighting. With a population comprising of about one thousand families, the subgroup of Scheduled Tribe constitutes about 46% of the population of these villages that mainly engages in agriculture, dairy/poultry & livestock farming, horticulture, bee-keeping etc. The project has facilitated eco-friendly lighting to the community in the region.
