After living without electricity since independence, Shiyal Bet, an island located off Pipavav Port in Gujarat’s Amreli district, got electricity for the first time on Saturday. While inaugurating the Rs 18.35-crore project to supply power to the island through marine cables, Chief Minister Anandiben Patel said, “We got independence in 1947. But Shiyal Bet has been liberated from darkness today and, in real sense of the term, has won its independence.”

The chief minister also announced that all families in Shiyal Bet will get electricity connections free of cost, in addition to two LED bulbs to ensure minimum electricity bill, The Indian Express reported. Gujarat provides families that live below poverty line power connections for free, but others have to spend an average of Rs 4,500 for it. The Shiyal Bet project is an important part of the prime minister’s target to electrify 18,000 villages in India by mid-2018.

The village functioned on a solar power system earlier, which could light only one bulb and recharge mobile phones, said the principal of Government Secondary School in Shiyal Bet, Janmejaysinh Chuauhan, adding that they will now be able to offer computer education to students. A local fisherman said, “So far, we had to make do with kerosene lamps, as solar lights do not last due to sea moisture. But the grid power will be a big thing.”

After the then chief minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to give electricity to Shiyal Bet in May, 2008, state-owned Paschim Gujarat Vij Company had invited bids to lay four parallel marine cables from Chanch Bandar to Shiyal Bet, covering 6.5 km, in August that year. However, the project was delayed as a result of initial disinterest and the rough waters of the sea in the region, which made is difficult to lay the cables.