After successfully experimenting with solar street lights in the bylanes of two tandas close to Mahabubnagar town around six months ago, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Mathru Bhoomi Foundation had decided expand this system to more tandas and colonies in the district.
This experiment convinced people that installing solar lighting system in tandas and colonies was an economically viable alternative to normal street lights. Solar lights automatically work with sunset and sun rise. These street lights run on batteries, which will be changed every five years. The foundation spent Rs 24,000 for establishing six solar street lights in two Tandas, president of the foundation and Mahbubnagar BJP MLA Yennam Srinivas Reddy said.
According to him, the district was known as one of the most backward in the world. “The district was facing serious power crisis due to official and unofficial power cuts. Mahbubnagar municipality as well as power utilities failed to provide power to street lights in various colonies and tribals tandas in the town,” he said.
NGO activists noticed that frequent voltage fluctuations were damaging the tubelights in the streets. “It has become a difficult task and financial burden for the streetlight maintenance department to change damaged bulbs every month. On the other hand, due to poor lighting on the roads at night, accidents and snake bite cases are increasing alarmingly,” he said.
Due to success of the experiment, the NGO decided to set up solar street lighting system in 36 Tandas and 40 colonies in the district.