06 April,2011 07:02 AM IST | | Parth Satam
PMC to replace streetlights in four wards with power-efficient LED bulbs on an experimental basis
The civic body has a 'bright' new plan for the streetlights in the city. Taking note of the power deficit in the state and the burgeoning consumer base, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to go eco-friendly and hopes to soon replace the streetlights on the city roads with the more powerful Light Emitting Diodes (LED) lights.
The plan was approved in the Standing Committee last week and the authority has also floated tenders for the Rs 2-crore project. Four tenders have been floated with two costing Rs 75 lakh and the other dyad costing Rs 25 lakh. The authority will then decide which major road or area to start with first, as several corporators have submitted proposals to install the fittings in their area.
LEDs are highly energy-efficient bulbs which save more than 30 per cent energy than the regular Sodium Vapour Lamps (SVL). So the 1.05 lakh streetlights in the city that consume around 10 crore electrical units every month, will now consume only 2.5 crore units, saving a total of 7.5 crore units of electricity. Srinivas Kundal, electrical engineer with the PMC, said the authority would then decide about fixing LEDs on other streets when this pilot project is over.
The lights will be installed in the wards of corporators Nilesh Nikam (NCP), Ujjwal Keskar (Independent), and Chandrakant Mokate (Shiv Sena). Their wards are Gokhale Nagar, Kothrud and Kothrud Gaon respectively.
However, civic activists and power experts in the city have pointed out the high costs involved in LEDs, given their recent entry in the technological arena.
"A normal LED fitting costs over Rs 7,000 and the entire apparatus for street lights will no doubt be exorbitant. This should not deter the authorities from continuing with the project," said activist Vivek Velankar.
Velankar also said that the Maharashtra State Electrical Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) does not have the mechanism to ensure that benefits accrue to citizens when they save power. " They should ideally have such a mechanism which will have a positive effect on the power situation in the state," said Velankar.
Powered city
LEDs have already been installed on all the streetlights in Chandigarh which was the first of its kind in the country in 2007. Even the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority plans to install such lighting equipment in the various commercial areas that come under its jurisdiction.
