Ola, WWF to light up Sunderbans

Kolkata: Ola, one of India’s popular cab aggregators, will be supporting the “Sahasra Jyoti” or “Beacon for the Sundarbans” initiative, an ongoing project of WWF-India, aimed at bringing sustainable development to the Sundarbans landscape in India, by enabling energy access to 1,000 households in the region, all through solar power.

Launched as a part of its World Environment Day initiative “FadakPadtaHai”, Ola will donate a portion of its revenue from the Share Pass proceeds to WWF(World Wildlife Fund)-India. “FarakPadtaHai” campaign aims to educate people on taking their first step towards a shared mobility, in an endeavour to curb traffic congestion and vehicular pollution in the key cities of the country.

Speaking about the association, Himanshu Pandey, director, marketing communication, WWF-India said, “More than 300 million people living in rural India do not have access to electricity or gas. For those living on the edge of a forest, with no lights in or around their homes, the chances of encountering wildlife increase significantly, resulting in harm caused to both humans and wildlife or both in most situations. ‘SahastraJyoti’ is an endeavour to help people living in these far-flung areas to have access to clean, reliable and affordable energy.” Anand Subramanian, senior director of marketing communications at Ola said.

The Sahasra Jyoti project, launched by WWF-India in partnership with a global specialist in energy management, aims at setting up individual micro solar power stations for 15-20 hamlets covering 1,000 households in the Satjelia Island in the Sunderbans.