MCG's LED project runs out of bulbs!
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MCG's LED project runs out of bulbs!

MCG’s plan to install 57,000 LED streetlights across the city by July is further delayed by two months.

MCG's LED project runs out of bulbs!

Gurgaon will now need to wait a little longer to have its dark stretches lit up. As with all government projects, MCG’s plan to install 57,000 LED streetlights across the city by July is further delayed by two months as the project concessionaire, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), has run out of LED bulbs.  

Speaking on the matter, MCG executive engineer Lalit Jindal, who is supervising the project, confirmed, “Unfortunately, EESL’s supply of LED bulbs is facing a snag. We sent a notice to them in this regard last week.”

City Spidey tried to get in touch with EESL north zone manager, Venkatesh Dwivedi, but the calls went unanswered.

So far, 13,000 LED streetlights have been installed in wards 2, 3, 5, 15, 33 and 34 with the first batch of 15,000 bulbs, affirmed MCG officials. But now, the concessionaire does not have any fresh consignments coming in.

The project started in March and was expected to be completed by July.

But what caused this snag in supply?

Requesting anonymity, MCG officials said multiple distributors stopped supplying LED bulbs to the concessionaire, as stakeholders felt that the Central government’s Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) distorted the market price of LED bulbs owing to highly subsidized rates.

Explaining the collective industry decision, Ashok Kohli, president of the chamber of industries, Udyog Vihar, said, “Any subsidy provided by the government on a large scale adversely impacts market for that commodity. The LED industry, too, has been reeling under the pressure of huge losses over the past three years since the Street Lighting National Programme was introduced.”

The LED project was undertaken to save 13 million units of power annually by replacing 49,000 sodium vapour streetlights with LED bulbs. Besides, the project was meant to illuminate all streets across Gurgaon, with 8,000 new LED streetlights.

But now, with this new development, the fate of the project seems uncertain.