Soon after winning the people's mandate, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is going all out as far as developement is concerned. Installation of streetlights to illuminate the dark spots across the national Capital was one of the top promises made by AAP in its poll manifesto. After Chief Minister's instructions, the Public Works Department (PWD) has begun the process of installation of 2.1 lakh street lights across the city.
According to a senior official, the PWD has floated tender to install about 218 street light poles along with fittings and provision of LEDs in the second part of the mega project. It will cater to illuminate dark spots in the rural areas that were identified in survey by the 'Safety Pin' an NGO in North West Delhi.
According to the study, the Safety Pin identified a total of number about 7428 darks in its safety audit across the national Capital.
In the second phase of the project, nearly 218 LED lights will be installed in the rural parts of North West Delhi's Pitampura Police Lines. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 36, 90, 398. Out of the total 218 lights, 200 lights are 70-72 watts and the remaining 18 lights will be 240 watts.
The smart LED lights which are set to be installed will be highly equipped with modern technologies such as sensors, self alarm system 360 degree coverage technique and so on.
"The lights will have individual embedded communication mode and controller interface with luminaries. The luminaries will have the facilities of plug and play installations. With having two way communications facilities the lights will be automatic, for instance it will have a sensor which will automatically turn on when it is dark and will stop when the sun rises in the morning," said an official.
The senior government official also added that each street light will be equipped with alarm management. In case any fault will occur and the light will not function, the information will be automatically sent to the field staff/agency. Further, it will be a complete smart system that will function all the time and will not be out of order for more than 48 hours. The communication mode will have self protection from short circuit and over voltage," said the official.
Besides, the smart LED lights will have real time and seven days data backup facility such as time of 'On/Off data', power consumption data and Fault/operation duration data.
The web hosting /operation management with software access with API for 7 years shall be provided. The software of the controller will have HTTP access and each light will be controlled individually via the Software, said the official.
"Tender has been floated for the project and will take a month time to open. The dark spots have been already identified by the NGO safety pin and mostly the dark spots are in the streets and in the parts of rural areas of North West Delhi district. The lights will have features such as automatic switch off/on, suitable for all weather conditions, 360 degree coverage techniques," said a government official.
It may be noted that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in September 2019 had also launched a scheme called 'Mukhyamantri Street Light Yojana' and began the installation of LED lights from the New Delhi area in December last year, with an aim to completely eradicate the 'dark spots' in the nation Capital. In the first, about 1150 smart LED streets lights were proposed to install.
