Hyderabad: LED project fails to meet targets

Hyderabad: The upgradation of streetlights from conventional sodium vapour to LED has got into troubled waters with EESL failing to complete the entrusted work. According to highly placed sources in GHMC, Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a Central government owned company, has installed only 4.03 lakh LED streetlights as against the existing 4.65 lakh. This leaves over 60,000 streetlights in the city having sodium vapour bulbs. However, ESSL staff claimed that the installation of LED streetlights in the city has been completed. Though 62,000 streetlights were yet to be replaced, senior officials at GHMC have remained mum.

As per the agreement between GHMC and ESSL,  the PSU was supposed to replace the existing cable network, and retrofit and commission poles. However, ESSL staff installed the LED streetlights without checking the cable network and testing them.  According to officials, 40 per cent of LED streetlights installed in central, south and west zones have either been dysfunctional or facing frequent repairs due to unscientific methods followed by unskilled labour during the installation.

Some streetlights at several prime areas including the Raj Bhavan, Chief Minister’s residence, Secretariat, Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills, where most of the law makers reside, have become dysfunctional. Besides this, LEDs were supposed to have 98 per cent illumination or brightness. However, the LED streetlights have only 75 per cent  illumination or brightness.

“LED streetlights are not yielded good results,” said Harish Daga, who worked with ESSL officials on the LED project. He blamed it on the use of unskilled labour, unscientific methods and ignoring the norms. The fact that streetlights are not working at the GHMC headquarters shows the success of the project.  On condition of anonymity, a senior official said that he was also not happy with the project. According to chief engineer K Suresh Kumar,  LEDs were adopted for streetlig-hts to save around 162 million units of power, which is worth Rs 115.13 crore. “With 4 lakh streetlights replaced, we are saving 40 MW power and 1.2 lakh tonnes of CO2 reduction is estimated with this initiative,” he said.