The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Nights to get bright in Cantonment

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 06, 2006
ePaper

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Nights to get bright in Cantonment

Staff Reporter

Street lighting project gets under way in the area The project for scientific redesigning, installation of streetlight network in SCB areasis progressing through its planning stages, says SCB executive officer V. Premchand.

RELIEF AT LAST? There are no streetlights on the road from Secundrabad club towards Vikrampuri causing hardships to motorists and pedestrians. — Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

HYDERABAD: Dark days are slowly ending for the Secunderabad Cantonment.

An ambitious street-lighting programme is underway in the region after officials for the past so many years were besieged with complaints over defunct streetlights, lack of lampposts and haphazard erection of light poles.

The project for scientific redesigning and installation of the streetlight network in SCB areas, estimated to cost between Rs.16 crores and Rs.20 crores, is progressing through its planning stages, according to SCB executive officer V. Premchand.

The initial work has begun with electronics major Philips Electronics India Limited being roped in to conduct a survey, among other things, on what could be done and how. According to Rakesh Ramachandran, area manager (Lighting Division), Philips, Andhra Pradesh, an initial survey was over with 19 of the main thoroughfares in the Cantonment area being studied.

"Many of them, at several stretches, did not have streetlights at all, while there were defunct lights at several other places. The survey took us five nights and we are submitting the initial report," he said, adding that finer points like the lighting near the airport, which would have to take into account the height of the poles due to flights in the night, were yet to be finalised.

Survey

Two major roads in SCB, the YMCA Junction-Bolaram stretch and the Paradise Junction-Balanagar stretch, were estimated to require around 460 and 430 streetlights respectively after the survey. The other roads that were studied included the Paradise Junction-New Monda Market road, the AOC Swimming Pool-Ramakrishnapuram road, the AOC Swimming Pool-Safilguda stretch, Marredpally-Entrenchment Road, Secunderabad Club-AOC Swimming Pool road and the Diamond Point-Medchal road among others.

Philips, according to SCB officials, was roped in due its experience in lighting works in the city and elsewhere. "We have done street-lighting for around 250 km in the twin cities, which is around 99 per cent of the roads here," Mr. Ramachandran said.

Philips, he added, was also handling the lighting works for the Golf Course in Gachibowli, the Hyderabad International Airport at Shamshabad and the Bangalore International Airport apart from supplying lighting appliances to a majority of the software/ITES firms in Hyderabad.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh