THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an effort to get rid of the age-old sodium vapour lamps and light up the city with state-of-the art LED lighting systems, the city corporation has replaced nearly 39,500 of the total 85,000 street lights in the hundred wards.
However, the project which was executed spending around Rs 18 crore in the past two years has faced a major setback with the company roped in by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) for managing the LED street lights stopped giving support for the maintenance of the lights. As part of the initiative, nearly 395 LED lamps were installed in each of the hundred wards coming in the corporation.
According to official sources, the agency is unable to offer support as per the agreement because of the lack of availability of LED materials, the supply of which has halted following the ban on Chinese imports by the India government. A senior official of the KSEB said that the ban on chinese imports has derailed the street lighting project. It is learnt that a large number of LED lights are lying defunct in the wards.
"The corporation was able to cut down on the power bills by around 45 per cent after the introduction of the LED lighting system. Now the company, which is supposed to give us maintenance for a period of five years, is unable to support the project. They are unable to source the materials for replacing lights," the official said.
"We are flooded with calls from councillors and everybody wants us to fix the lights. Ever since the pandemic outbreak, we have been unable to do the work at a fast pace because of containment regulations and other issues," he added.
General secretary of the Federation of Residents' Association J Moses said that 50 per cent of the places are yet to get the LED lighting system. "KSEB has done a good job at some of the places. Street lighting continues to be an issue in many places. As per the feedback we are getting from the residents, around 50 per cent of the places are yet to get the LED lights," said Moses.
With local body elections around the corner, the corporation has bought around 8,000 LED lights to replace the defunct street lights. "We are using LED lights for all new lines. We have allocated a large number of recently bought LED lights for replacing defunct LED lights. Because of adverse weather, many of the LED lights are defunct. We are getting a lot of calls from the councillors. We are under a lot of pressure right now because of the local body elections," said the KSEB official.
The official said maintaining street lights is turning out to be a huge responsibility for the KSEB. "Our primary responsibility is to supply power and local bodies rope in other agencies for maintaining street lights. But the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation has entrusted the job with us which is an additional responsibility," the official added.
Former chairman of the Town Planning Standing Committee Palayam Rajan said the city corporation has saved a lot because of the LED project in terms of power bills. "The civic body will be able to replace the entire lighting system with LED lights only in a phased manner," he said.
Green switch
The municipal body was able to reduce power bills by 45 per cent after the switch to LED lights