Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh today said that the holy town of Katra would be taken up on pilot basis under the Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) so that it comes up as one of the model towns of the country.The Deputy Chief Minister was speaking at a meeting convened to discuss the implementation of SLNP in the State.The meeting was attended by Principle Secretary, PDD Mr. Sandeep Naik, Director Urban Bodies Jammu Mr. Soujanya Sharma, Chief Executive officer, Mata Vishno Devi Shrine Board, Development Commissioner Power, Chief Engineer, EM&RE Jammu, Managing Director, EESL and other senior officers.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that under the programme whole of the State would be provided with LED lights and lamps so that the energy consumption is lowered which would in turn ensure that the funds so saved which were otherwise used for energy procurement would be utilized in other developmental activities.He said that subsidize LED lamps would be provided to the consumers for both domestic and other uses.
He said that under SLNP every major and minor town and Municipal Corporation would also be provided LED lamps which would also result in saving enormous amounts of energy.The Deputy Chief Minister asked the PDD officers to prepare a comprehensive project report in consultation with EESL which is a Government of India enterprise, so that LEDs would be provided to the consumers in a time bound manner.
It is pertinent to mention that EESL, a Government of India designated company has already provided LED lamps to other States of the country as well. Under SLNP programme the Centre provides subsidized and free LED lights to the consumers as per availability of funds (both State and Centre) to the consumers for domestic usage. The Scheme is being implemented across the Country.