Warangal boy’s invention set to save power in 50 villages

Warangal: A low cost automatic street light switch designed by a young villager Mupprapu Raju is going to help several village panchayats to save electricity.

Sometimes, street lights remain switched on through the day due to the negligence of officials. This invention will help resolve this issue. Equipped with a Light Dependent Resistor sensor, the device turns the lights on or off depending on the lighting in the location, avoiding unnecessary wastage of electricity.

Warangal Urban collector Prashant J. Patil, who came to know about the invention called him to his office and asked for details about the device. He asked Raju to instal the device in Hasanparthy mandal in about 50 gram panchayats. “The problem of street lights remaining on throughout the day in villages wasting electricity will be solved with this innovation. We will install this device in 50 gram panchayats soon”, Mr Prashant said.

Raju with his solar mobile phone charger.

Hailing from a farmer’s family in Gopalpur village of Duggondi mandal in Warangal Rural district, Raju came up with the idea back in 2005 when he was a Class X student. “While going to school, I used to notice street lights were on in the morning. Since it is a waste of electricity and money, I wanted to find a solution. I discussed this with my father, who is also an electrician. He told me about the LDR sensor and with his help, I developed my first automatic street light control system and even installed it in some of the villages nearby,” he said.

The device costs `3,000 and one feeder can monitor about 30 street lights. So each village will require about three or four devices for all the street lights.

Fondly called ‘Inventor Raju’ by his friends, the 29-year-old has come up with several indigenous solutions to problems faced by people. His solar mobile phone charger is being used in several government offices and hospitals across the two Telugu speaking states. Raju is currently working as an innovation scout with the National Innovation Foundation encouraging other young innovators like him.