As soon as the daylight starts fading and night spreads its veil, the Mela zone of the holy city decks up in multi-coloured lights these days. The whole area around Har-ki-Pauri including the famous temples and river banks are illuminated with multi-coloured lights catching the eye of a visitor from a distance. The tourists, who would flock the four-month fair, would get a lighted spiritual experience at Har -ki-Pauri.
The earlier plans to use light emitting diode (lED) lights for decoration did not work well since these lights cannot be spotted from distance. Hence the old styled bulbs have been used to lit up the atmosphere which consume lot of electricity though the ghats continue to be lit with lED lights. This multi coloured décor has increased the consumption of electricity multi-fold than normal days.
This lighting is done on bridges, road crossings and 25 watt bulbs have been used for the lighting which shall be installed for the whole mela period lasting till April 2016. Expensed at an amount of nearly 25 lakhs these bulbs give the look of a “fairyland” to the visitor. Mela adhikari S A Murugeshan told the Pioneer that some Fifty lakhs have been spent on beautification and lighting in the mela zone
Even localites have started paying courtesy visits to the sanctum sanctorum who otherwise hardly visited the spot, except on occasions to accompany their guests. Neha Verma of Bhel was jaw dropped after visiting Har Ki Pauri on Monday, “I never knew our Haridwar was so beautiful. It is amazing to see the har Ki Pauri turned to a fairly land these days.” Similar was the observation of a group of students from Gurukul Kangri university who were seen posing for selfies against the Har Ki Pauri background.
Notably in the mid last year an agreement had been finalised between Municipal Corporation and public sector undertaking Bharat Heavy Electrical limited (BHEl) Haridwar units to provide lED lights. According to the agreement, BHEl financed the project of providing all lED lights of same design, 72 watt power capacity to ensure uniformity on all ghats (slopy river banks meant for bathing). AGM BHEl and media spokesperson Rajeev Bhatnagar told The Pioneer, “Under corporate social responsibility, 330 lights worth 20 lakhs of rupees were given to the Nagar Nigam for installation in Har Ki Pauri area.”
Speaking to The Pioneer, Bhatnagar said, “lED lights have many advantages over incandescent light sources on account of their lower energy consumption, longevity, improved physical robustness and smaller size.”
No matter how much emphasis is given to conserve energy at the centre and state level, to use lEDs instead of tube lites and halogens, when it comes to decoration, the government doesn’t mind spending more than double to show off.