GHMC targets 100% LED street lighting

Hyderabad: A survey taken up by the GHMC electrical wing engineers and Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) officials at the instance of Commissioner M Dana Kishore has found that 20,450 of the 419,500 LED streetlights of capacities 35, 75, 110 and 190 watts were not working. It also detected that 25,860 of the 26,000 Command Control Switch Systems (CCMS) are functioning.The survey follows routine complaints by several members in the GHMC Standing Committee and general body that the lights have not been working despite the Commissioner’s special strategy of getting all the GHMC streetlights working. 

After the survey, the Commissioner and the Additional Commissioner Shruti Oja directed that 100 per cent streetlighting should be ensure after holding a meeting of engineers, representatives of EESL, and contractors.With the GHMC power wing staff, engineers conducting daily inspections, the civic body claims to have achieved 98 per cent success in achieving that all its streetlights are functioning. 

This is being confirmed not based on figures provided by the officials, but after receiving letters from the ward members that the lights were operational on full scale. With the CCMS boards also working, a system has been introduced to enable the city residents to know details of the functioning streetlights in their mobile phones.

GHMC took up the project at a cost of Rs 217.12 crore in July 2017 to install 4.2 lakh LED streetlight, replacing the traditional ones, emerging as the largest civic body to install LED streetlights in the country, through EESL. The project envisages the GHMC to save 162.140 million units and effecting an estimated saving of Rs.115.13 crore in a year.