Project to bring light to villages

VELLORE: District collector S Nagarajan has initiated a project to free villages across the district from darkness.  The project aims at making all street lamps glow and at the same time cut down energy consumption by switching to energy efficient lamps such as compact florescent lamps (CFL).  The study, undertaken by the district administration last week, saw officials and local body leaders participating. The study found that out of the 99,947 lamps in 743 villages in 20 panchayat unions in the district, while 90,308 functioned 9,639 did not.  Nagarajan has ordered that all streetlights be made functional by January 6, 2012 by fixing  faulty bulbs, ballasts, starters and electrical wires.Nagarajan also urged them to make use of CFLs as much as possible to conserve energy. Steps would also be taken through the Electricity Board to ensure uniform voltage supply to  villages suffering from low voltage.  In the third week of January, another survey would be conducted to assess the success of the project.