Tuesday, December 23, 2014: With an aim to transform Delhi in to a smart city, the Union Ministry has launched a pilot project for the conversion of street lights into an energy-efficient and environment-friendly LED lights. With this project, led by the union ministry of power, the government aims at saving the cost of Rs 7,000 million and the electricity consumption of about 250 million units.
The pilot system was initiated by the M Venkaiah Naidu, union urban development minister and Piyush Goel, union power, coal and new and renewable energy minister in Naraina Vihar area, North Delhi. The ministry has planned to extend the energy efficient LED street lighting system across the city, where there are around 500,000 streetlight points.
The project would be launched in phases in the capital, after commencing from North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC). Government will push it further to the rest of the civic bodies in the capital. Besides NDMC, the capital covers South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), New Delhi Municipal Council and the Cantonment Board, for the Delhi Cantonment area. The entire expense of the project will be borne by the Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a joint venture company of the PSUs under the Ministry of Power.
Goel had also mentioned about the electricity bill introduced by the centre in the Lok Sabha. He stated that after the bill would be passed, the consumers will be able to switch power suppliers. The government will fix the upper limit on the rates and the companies would then even offer competitive rates out of competition. Thus, the actual benefit will fall into the platter of the consumer.
