Capital to replace all PWD streetlights with smart LEDs

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has directed the Public Works Department (PWD) to prepare a large-scale plan to replace all existing streetlights in areas under its jurisdiction, officials said on Monday.

In the past few months, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and PWD Minister Parvesh Verma have held several review meetings with officials on the functioning of streetlights.

“While the regular repair work of streetlights is ongoing, there is a plan to replace all the streetlights (92,163) on PWD roads and put in place the latest technology, which will not only save power but also last longer so that all the dark spots are eliminated,” officials said.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister has announced a plan to replace around 40,000 sodium streetlights with LEDs. The government is planning to replace all the lights with smart streetlights, officials added.

Launching various development projects for her Shalimar Bagh constituency, Gupta said, “Nearly 44,000 conventional streetlights across Delhi are being replaced with LEDs, with the city expected to be fully lit up before Diwali.” The LEDs will replace the conventional sodium

vapour lights.

“The outdated technology used in existing streetlights makes it challenging to procure spare parts. Additionally, the manual monitoring of the current streetlights made it difficult to address complaints promptly,” an official said.

According to officials, due to the outdated technology in the old sodium lights, power bills are extremely high, and replacing their parts is also not easy.