They say the best way to predict future is to design it. People often confuse between smart cities and developed cities. Well, the smart cities have a clear concept. The smart cities are the ones where there is adequate water supply, assured electricity supply, sanitation including solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, affordable housing especially for the poor, robust IT connectivity and digitization. There are no smart cities without smart people. Where on one hand everyone is just talking about sustainable development, reducing pollution and global warming, Udaipur, the beautiful lake city of Rajasthan, is actually implementing it.
With great efforts put in the Rajasthan state government in the leadership of Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje, Udaipur has become the first city to actually get rid of those high intensity and high pressure sodium lights on the streets. Udaipur has replaced those heavy sodium lights with almost 35000 LED lights on the streets says a release from the Ministry of Power and Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a joint venture company of the PSUs of the ministry.
“We have started the replacement in a phased manner last year and have now achieved the 100% coverage in municipal area. The LED bulbs have covered their cost themselves since we are saving a large sum that we had to spend on electricity bill every month,” Siddharth Sihag, CEO Udaipur Smart City Limited, said.
The report says that the further efforts are made to make these street lights on solar panels. “In the first phase, we would be taking some 500 street lights between Fatehpura to Sukhadia circle which will be supported with solar charging panels. This will reduce the electricity consumption even more,” Sihag added.
“Presently, the state government provides 30% subsidy for solar plants. In Udaipur, people are being encouraged to install the set up with an additional 10% subsidy granted by corporation and even helping them to get a loan for the project to raise the remaining amount that could be payable in easy installments,” Sihag informed. Also, Mahesh Sharma, an environmentalist says, “It is indeed a great achievement. Even a big city like New York has embarked on a target to replace their street lights with LEDs by 2017; we are a long way ahead.”
Rajasthan is certainly transforming and emerging as the leading states in the country.
