The government is all set to roll out ‘Jagananna Palle Velugu’ on March 31 to transfer maintenance of street lights to the gram panchayats.
This is an effort to revamp the street lighting programme by ensuring that the non-glowing lights are restored within 48 hours of the receipt of a complaint.
“The idea is to address the complaints quickly and to empower the gram panchayat system,” a senior official of the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Department has said.
The Panchayat Raj Department, in coordination with the Discoms, will utilise the services of 7,000 energy assistants for the purpose.
Around 2 lakh village volunteers will be engaged to identify and report the non-glowing LED street lights to the village secretariats.
The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has conducted a training programme for the village secretariat staff on the maintenance of street lights.
Monitoring mechanism
A web portal will be designed for handling and monitoring the LED street lights complaints, and the AP State Energy Efficiency Development Corporation Limited (APSEEDCO), a joint venture of the AP power utilities, will be responsible for distribution of spares from the divisional level to the panchayat level.
Minister for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development P. Ramachandra Reddy has called it a revolutionary step by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Addressing the officials at a review meeting on the street lights project on Sunday, the Minister said the government wanted to revamp and strengthen the LED street lights system as it would enhance safety, security and visual comfort in the villages. “The government is also keen on quick delivery of services through the village and ward secretariat systems,” the Minister added. He said that more than ₹70,000 crore was spent for delivering welfare schemes to the people.
Principal Secretary (Panchayat Raj and Rural Development) Gopal Krishna Dwivedi said steps were being taken to install another 4 lakh LED street lights in 2,303 gram panchayats, in addition to about 23.29 lakh lights installed by the EESL in 10,382 panchayats. “It will help the gram panchayats to save around 260 MU of electricity annually worth ₹156 crore,” he said.
Energy Secretary N. Srikanth asked the CMDs of the Discoms to do the needful for the success of the programme.
The Minister, along with Mr. Dwivedi and Commissioner M. Girija Shankar, released a poster on the ‘Jagananna Palle Velugu’.
