Streets and roads in as many as 21 States and Union Territories are witnessing a transformation, one that is being showcased as the outcome of a “best practice” in developmental governance. The national targets might fail to meet the deadline, but the States and UTs that have zealously taken up the Street light National Programme (SlNP), are witnessing a windfall, already. The programme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi two-and-a-half years ago to replace the 3.5-crore conventional street and domestic lights with energy-efficient light-Emitting Diodes (lED) lights.
Power consumption has come down by half, and the considerable savings thus accumulated are helping the Urban local Bodies (UlBs) become self-sustainable as they are reinvesting these funds for further implementation of the project.
The States/UTs have together replaced over 23 lakh of their street lights with lED lights, with Rajasthan leading the pack and contributing to one-third of such replacements. Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat and Goa are the others in the top five.
In just two-and-a-half years of the lED project’s implementation, Rajasthan has saved a whopping 873 lakh units (kwh) energy, resulting in monetary savings of Rs 69.83 crore. Once the project is completed, Rajasthan is expected to save 1,515.40 lakh units of power worth Rs 121.23 crore every year.
“Of the total 190 UlBs of Rajasthan having 12.50 lakh street lights, the lED project work has been completed in 86 UlBs. Replacement work is on in 49 UlBs. We have so far replaced 7.50 lakh conventional street lights with the energy-efficient lED lights. The average energy saving is 50 per cent. Under Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, it’s one of our best practices that we are showcasing,” Manjit Singh, Principal Secretary, local Self-Government, Rajasthan, told The Pioneer.
The report of a third-party inspection of the project maintains that 11 UlBs in Rajasthan where the installation process was completed in 2015-16 collectively saved 61 per cent energy. It is 247.20 lakh units of energy savings. In monetary terms, the UlBs of Jaipur, Ajmer, Pushkar, Dholpur, Bhiwadi, Ratangarh, Ratannagar, Churu, Mount Abu and Udaipur together saved nearly Rs 20 crore.
The Rajasthan Government signed an MoU with the New Delhi-based Energy Efficiency Services ltd (EESl) on January 23, 2015 following which it was allocated Rs 1,500 crore for a seven-year period to implement the project.
The SlNP envisages that the replacement of 3.5 crore conventional street lights by 2019 will result in saving of 9,000 million units annually with a reduction of 1,500 MW of installed street light load. The total cost savings of municipalities every year are pegged at Rs 5,500 crore while the carbon footprint is estimated to reduce by 6.2 million tonnes.
“Initially, there was apprehension that lED lights on streets and roads would lead to reduced illumination. But that was soon dispelled. The funds saved through reduced power consumption means no separate funds are required for the project. The overall cost of the project will be borne from the funds released through Urban Cess. Hence, there will be no financial burden on the UlBs,” Singh outlined.
However, it’s not just a mere replacement of the age-old sodium bulbs or tubelights in Rajasthan. The lamp posts are being converted into multi-purpose ones, serving for installation of CCTVs and Wi-Fi networks too under other Centrally-sponsored schemes worth a hefty Rs 40,000 crore