Many of my Cummins blog readers have probably seen the below story, but for those friends and family members that have not this story highlights some of the great things our company does around the world.
February 28, 2011
Blair Claflin, Sustainability Communications Director
Padarwadi presented a special challenge for Cummins India employees working to bring power to remote villages in Western India.
The village’s 10 households are connected to the nearest town by a long, narrow path that twists up a mountain. The path isn’t wide enough for vehicles. Padarwadi is reachable only on foot.
Now you can see how Cummins employees, working with a Non-Governmental Organization and village residents, disassembled a power generation system that runs on inedible vegetable oil and walked the system into Padarwadi last year.
A short video on this incredible story is posted on Cummins Sustainability Web site at www.cummins.com. Just click on the green Sustainability button then enter the Media Gallery.
The video has been entered in the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship Film Festival. The festival is inviting everyone to come to its website and vote for their favorite through March 10. This public voting will narrow the entries to the top 10. Visit the website to see the 36 entries including Cummins’ video on Padarwadi.
The video of the 250 kilogram generator engine being carried into the village is especially dramatic. The engine was tied to two long, wooden poles. Village residents then lifted the engine on their shoulders for the three-day trip.
Padarwadi residents today have the power to run a rice mill so they no longer have to carry the rice they grow 4 kilometers uphill, more than 500 times a year to a mill in the nearest town.
Residents can make flat bread out of the rice flour they mill. In addition to fueling the generator, the oil they produce can be sold as a traditional medicine and the resulting byproduct seed “cake” can be used as fertilizer, providing another new source of income for the village.
Subramanian Ravichandran, the Corporate Responsibility Leader for the India ABO, said the project has made a huge difference in the village, especially for children, who previously joined adults in walking the rice to town.
“They now have a lot more time to improve their farming,” he said. “Farm production is expected to double because time and energy that used to be spent walking the rice to town can now be devoted to other activities.”
Carole Casto, Director of Community Engagement for Cummins Corporate Responsibility Department, encouraged all Cummins employees to watch the video.
“It’s just another example what can happen when the power of Cummins is unleashed to help strengthen communities around the world,” she said.
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