VIJAYAWADA: The State government is all set to roll out one of its flagship programmes ‘Jagananna Palle Velugu’ on March 31 to transfer maintenance of LED street lights to gram panchayats as part of the decision of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to make all government services available in villages and address the needs of people in less time.
The government wants to revamp the street lighting programme by ensuring that the non-glowing lights are restored in 48 hours of the receipt of complaints. The State government has issued orders through GO Ms No 11 to transfer the operation, repair and maintenance of energy efficient LED street lights project from EESL and NREDCAP to the village secretariats.
“The reason behind this decision is to address the complaints on LED street lighting quickly and empower the Gram Panchayat system,” said a senior official of Panchayat Raj and Rural Development department (PR&RD).
The Panchayat Raj department will utilise the services of around 7,000 energy assistants in coordination with power Discoms for the maintenance of street lights. The department will also utilise the services of around two lakh village volunteers in identifying and reporting non-glowing LED street light complaints to village secretariats. The EESL conducted a training programme for village secretariat staff on the maintenance of streetlights.
The PR&RD department will also develop a comprehensive web portal for handling and monitoring the LED street lights complaints. The AP State Energy Efficiency Development Corporation Limited (APSEEDCO), a joint venture of AP power utilities, is held responsible for distribution of spares from divisional level to panchayat level for smooth transfer of repair and maintenance activities and further monitoring of the project.
Minister for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy described the transfer of maintaining LED streetlights to Gram Panchayats as another “revolutionary step” by the Chief Minister, who wants the government to be present at the doorstep of people.
Speaking to officials during a review meeting on the streetlights project, the minister said the government wants to revamp and strengthen the LED streetlights project because of its key role in improving quality of life and living standards of people. “The improved light quality will enhance safety, security and visual comfort in villages,’’ he said.
The government has noticed the inconvenience being faced by the people in villages due to delay in addressing the repair and maintenance of street lights by agencies. “The concept of government is that every service request/complaint of people is addressed in a possible shortest time. The Chief Minister established the village and ward secretariat system for uninterrupted delivery of government services to all citizens and reform grassroots administration. In view of this, the government decided to transfer maintenance of streetlights to Gram Panchayats,” the minister said. The minister said the government has spent more than Rs 70,000 crore for delivering welfare schemes to people so far. “ The entire country is appreciating the decentralisation of the government’s functioning at the village level which is yielding excellent results. The Jagananna Palle Velugu will definitely become a role model for the country,” the minister said.
Principal Secretary of PR & RD Gopal Krishna Dwivedi informed the minister that steps were being taken to install another four lakh LED streetlights in 2,303 Gram Panchayats, which have not been covered under the street lighting programme so far in addition to about 23.29 lakh lights installed by the EESL in 10,382 Gram Panchayats. It is estimated that the LED street lighting programme will help the Gram Panchayats to cumulatively save around 260 million units of electricity annually worth Rs 156 crore.
Secretary for Energy Srikant Nagulapalli gave directions to CMDs of Discoms to take necessary steps according to the orders of government on the street lighting programme. The Gram Panchayat LED Street lighting program is the biggest in the country and one of the best energy efficiency programmes in the world which will have a positive impact on the people of the rural areas, he said. Panchayat raj and rural development Commissioner M Girija Shankar said the Jagananna Palle Velugu programme will be launched on March 31 in all district headquarters and three mandal headquarters in each district. Ministers and senior officials will participate.
