In our State power cuts have become routine even n the best of times,there are no scheduled power cuts, there will be plenty of unscheduled power cuts. In spite of us reeling under scarcity of power we are witness to strings of lights burning for decorative purposes. Also several advertisement hoardings use bunches of high power lights. In times of terrible scarcity should such uses not be prohibited?
In the good old days, street lights used to be of filament lamps. These have given way to fluorescent lamps. We now have sodium vapour lamps, and the streets have bright illumination with SV lamps burning every few yards, with saturation lighting. EVERY ALTERNATE SV LAMP ON THE ROADS CAN BE REMOVED WITHOUT INCONVENIENCING ROAD USERS AND AFFECTING SECURITY CONCERNS
The DISCOMs are advising householders to use CFLs and are even giving them out free on our surrendering filament bulbs. Why not the same CFLs be used for street lights? At least half the SV lamps can be replaced with CFLs without adversely affecting the public’s comfort