Work on automation of street lights to start in Faridabad, project likely to cost Rs 20 crore
The civic agencies are likely to launch work on the automation of the street lighting system in the city, which has nearly one lakh streetlight poles at present. The move comes after approval for the project was received in principle last year, in which the authorities concerned had sought permission for adopting the state-of-the-art technology to maintain and operate the traffic light network in the city, revealed sources in the civic administration. Expected to cost around 20 crore, the automation process will involve operation of the lighting network through the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. This will help the departments concerned to operate the lights in an automated manner and will evade the manual system of operation that has been in use so far.
While the Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) will look after the automation project in the areas and sectors maintained by it, in the localities falling in the Greater Faridabad (Neharpar) area, the work will be done by the HSVP or the Faridabad Metropolitan Development Authority (FMDA), it was revealed.
Claiming that the introduction of the automated system would require funds to the tune of Rs 3-4 crore in each Assembly segment, the officials said the overall budget may go up to Rs 20 crore, as per the initial calculations. With the areas covered by the MCF having around 73,000 streetlights, the rest of the lights are claimed to be located in the Greater Faridabad area, which has been a hub for high-rise residential societies, besides housing a number of colonies and villages that fall under the civic limits, say officials concerned. The lights will have a unified control system linked to the Integrated Command Control Centre (ICCC) in Sector 20 here.
Satinder Singh of the RWA Confederation of Greater Faridabad said that while a large number of streetlights, including those installed on the Sai Dham (Tigaon Road) about three years ago, had been lying non-functional, the problem had been unresolved despite the matter being taken up with the authorities concerned. Alleging poor upkeep, he said residents had been at the receiving end due to the nonexistence of a transparent and accountable system, and this, he said, had perhaps been a major loophole, creating a hurdle in the effective delivery of various services
or facilities.
Birender Kardam, Chief Engineer, MCF, said that while the work of automating the street lighting system had been taken up in the areas maintained by the civic body, the localities of Greater Faridabad would be looked after by the FMDA or the HSVP.
