The project of LED streetlights in the city appears a doomed endeavour for all practical purposes, notwithstanding the tall claims by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) about power savings and efficiency.
Complaints about non-glowing streetlights swarm all the grievance platforms of GHMC., including social media, and the corporation routinely forwards the same to the officials of the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), which is a joint venture of all public sector units under the Ministry of Power, and responsible for implementation of LED installation programme across the States.
More than five years ago, in partnership with EESL, the GHMC had replaced all the conventional street lamps with LEDs (Light Emitting Diode), promising better visibility and power conservation.
More than 4.5 lakh conventional bulbs were replaced with the LEDs up to 2020. Together with the newly installed ones, there are now 5.35 lakh LED streetlights in the city now, as per the official records.
The project was promoted and implemented by EESL in Hybrid Annuity model, under which GHMC’s payments are based on the number of units saved through LED lights. Accordingly, the monthly bill comes roughly close to ₹7 crore, share officials. However, the bill payment hinges upon 98% glow rate, and the present rate is a far cry from this.
“The corporation is using a dashboard to calculate the glow rate, which does not show dynamic figures. It shows what is fed into the system from time to time by operators, which is not a scientific method to calculate,” says citizen activist Harish Daga.
The actual glow rate, he says, is lower than 70%, and claims that never during the last five year period had the glow rate matched the set standard, yet the GHMC ended up paying huge sums to EESL.
“A large number of bulbs in the upmarket Banjara HIlls and Jubilee Hills areas are not functional now. Even after repeated complaints, they remain the same,” Mr. Harish Daga says.
A simple ride on the Punjagutta flyover reveals that only 40% of the lights installed are functional, and the left side ramp leading to Road No.1, Banjara Hills, is partially drowned in darkness, giving scope to major accidents.
Officials from the GHMC, under the condition of anonymity, admit that the dashboard does not show real time glow rate. However, the non functional lamps have a whole other reason.
The EESL is carrying out the LED project across several States, and depends on private vendors for supply of the bulbs and other equipment such as Command Control Management Systems used to control bulbs in a specific geographical region.
“The EESL has a large number of defaulting States which are not paying the monthly instalments. Due to this, the agency is unable to pay the vendors, and in turn the latter have halted the supply of spares. The inventory of spares has come down drastically due to which they are unable to get the damaged parts replaced,” shared a field level official.
It is certainly a possibility that the defaulting States stalled the payments citing lower glow rate, he says.
According to sources, the Telangana owes the agency close to ₹100 crore, for the work carried in other municipalities outside the GHMC.
As penalty for failure in delivery, GHMC has slapped a fine of ₹8 crore on EESL so far, which has been cut from monthly payments over the past 10-12 months, sources informed. This, however, does not resolve the issue of non-lowing streetlights.
With less than two years left of the duration agreed upon with EESL, it is to be seen how GHMC would handle the issue left on its own.
“The actual glow rate is lower than 70%, and claims that never during the last five year period had the glow rate matched the set standard. ”Harish Daga, Citizen activist.
