Western Union to 'light up' 15 remote villages of Jharkhand this Diwali

PATNA: The

Western Union Company

, a leader in global payment services has decided to light up 15 more remote villages of

Jharkhand

this Diwali. Through its collaboration with The Energy and Resources Institute (

TERI

), and building on last year's campaign's success,

Western Union

will make solar-panel powered electricity available to residents in Jharkhand's villages.

Last year, with support from TERI, 15 villages across three states in India (Bihar, UP and Andhra Pradesh) received electricity, many for the very first time. The company will contribute a minimum of Rs 20 lakhs, and up to Rs 30 lakhs towards this initiative.

Western Union will contribute up to Rs 100 for each transaction received from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand between October 1 and November 1, 2016.

Sohini Rajola, regional vice president, India & South Asia at Western Union, said, "Lack of electricity is one of the major impediments to economic development in India. We are committed to promoting the well-being of the communities we serve and we are happy to continue the "Light up a Village" campaign this year. We are hopeful that this initiative will improve the living conditions of the villagers in rural India and will promote further social and economic development."

Amit Kumar, senior director, Lighting a Billion Lives, at TERI said, "The Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) programme was started in 2008, and since then we have impacted a lot of lives. Through our association with Western Union, we look forward to reaching many more remote villages as we did last year."

During this period, remittance receivers will also have a chance to win an amount equivalent of one year of their electricity bill. Eligible participants need to produce an electricity bill in their name for any month in 2016 to calculate the yearly bill (12 times of any one bill) subject to a maximum prize amount of Rs 10,000. In case winners are not able to produce an electricity bill, they will still receive a cash prize of Rs 5,000 in replacement. A total of 500 winners will be selected in 5 draws.