A tender for Mauje Palasner village in Shirpur taluka, Dhule district, calls for the installation of a solar high mast and solar lights, funded under PESA — the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act.
What PESA funding means here
PESA extends a modified panchayati raj framework to India's Fifth Schedule Scheduled Areas — regions with substantial tribal populations, largely concentrated in Maharashtra's Dhule, Nandurbar, Nashik, Gadchiroli and Palghar districts — giving gram sabhas a stronger say over how development funds, including basic infrastructure like lighting, are planned and spent for their own settlement.
Why Shirpur taluka
Shirpur taluka, in Dhule district's northwest, includes a mix of Scheduled Area villages along the Satpura foothills where grid reliability drops off well before reaching the village core, making solar the practical choice for both the high mast covering common ground and the individual solar lights along internal lanes.
A recurring pattern in the region
PESA-funded solar lighting works of this kind have become a steady tender category across Dhule's tribal-belt talukas through 2025 and 2026, running alongside similar adivasi vasti (tribal settlement) solar highmast works in neighbouring Sakri taluka within the same district.
