Krishna district selected for Gram Ujala scheme

Vijayawada: The State government is planning to distribute LED bulbs to households in rural areas of Krishna district with the support of Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL, Government of India)) as part of objective to promote energy efficiency to every household and benefit every family under the Gram Ujala scheme.

Krishna district is one of the five districts selected in the country for the distribution of LED bulbs to the households. The other districts are Varanasi Uttar Pradesh), Vadnagar(Gujarat), Nagpur(Maharashtra) and Arrah(Bihar). Around 8.84 lakh LED bulbs will be distributed in the rural areas of Krishna district from February 2021. The Energy department has requested AP Panchayat Raj and Rural Development to identify one or two mandal headquarters for the launching the programme.

According to the Energy department officials, EESL will invest around Rs 450 crore to distribute four high quality LED bulbs to each family for replacement of conventional and inefficient bulbs.

The State government has asked officials to make the LED programme a grand success with an aim to create awareness among general public on the benefits of energy efficiency. As part of this, local MPs and MLAs will also be involved in this programme to send strong message to people on practicing energy efficiency in everyday life. Each LED bulb will be sold at Rs10 on subsidy.

"LED is a highly energy efficient lighting technology. Residential LEDs use at least 75 per cent less energy and last 25 times longer than incandescent lighting in general," energy secretary Srikant Nagulapalli said.

Widespread use of LED lighting has the greatest potential impact on energy savings. The LEDs emit very less heat comparing with incandescent bulbs and CFLs which releases 90 per cent and 80 per cent of their energy as heat respectively.

"With performance improvements, LED bulbs can replace 40, 60 and even 75 watt incandescent bulbs. The EESL will distribute 9 W LED bulbs, which include four high quality bulbs at the nominal price of Rs10 only. The EESL will invest Rs 450 crore to distribute LED bulbs in Andhra Pradesh," said Executive Vice-Chairman of EESL Saurabh Kumar in a letter to state energy department.

The Vice-Chairman/EESL has also said that Andhra Pradesh is considered to be one of the best states in the country in the area of Energy Efficiency, Promotion of Renewable Energy and over all best performance of the power sector.