Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 27: Governor N N Vohra chaired a high level meeting regarding implementation of “Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP)”, which is aimed at saving energy by using efficient LED lamps, across the entire State with effect from March 2016.
The meeting was attended by B. R. Sharma, Chief Secretary, B. B. Vyas, Financial Commissioner Planning & Development Department, Dheeraj Gupta, Commissioner, Power and Navin K. Choudhary, Commissioner, Finance. The discussions were held with Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a public entity under the administrative control of Ministry of Power, Government of India, and other senior officers.
The Governor was informed that distribution of 80 lakh LED bulbs to about 15 lakh registered consumers in the State will help reduce the peak demand in J&K by about 250 MW and will save energy consumption by 260 m KWh translating into an annual saving of about Rs 130 cr. Likewise, the replacement of conventional street lights with LEDs will help in significantly enhancing the light output which would have a positive impact on the management of the safety and security of citizens.
Governor directed Chief Secretary to take necessary steps so that the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) can be launched across the State from March 2016 in collaboration with Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a PSU under the Ministry of Power. The focus of this initiative should be on making the common citizen adequately aware of the benefits of energy efficiency measures.
As a concrete first step, the Government, through EESL, may provide up to 5 LED lamps of 9W each to every registered electricity consumer at an affordable price. The Governor directed that PDD should complete all necessary formalities for obtaining the requisite approvals for financial arrangements, including signing of agreement, distribution modalities, awareness and promotion, etc with EESL by March 15, 2016. If any consumer is desirable of procuring more than 5 LEDs, he can purchase the additional number at a cost of about Rs. 100 which would be much less than the obtaining price in the open market.
It was also decided in the meeting that street lights in the Municipal Corporations of Jammu and Srinagar, and other Municipalities across the State, would be replaced with energy efficient smart LED lights with full metering and dedicated feeders/phase wires. EESL will undertake this work on a turnkey basis, including maintenance for the next 7 years.
The Governor further directed that EESL will undertake an Energy Audit of various Government offices, starting with the Civil Secretariat and implement use of energy efficient LED lighting in all Government buildings across the State. It was decided that arrangements in this regard will be worked out with EESL within the next two weeks, by March 15.
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