[Himachal Current Affairs] HP Government launches RISHTA project

Himachal Pradesh Government has launched Rajiv Gandhi Illuminating Scheme for Hill Town Advancement (RISHTA) project, which is an efficient smart LED based street lighting project.

With this Himachal Pradesh becomes first state in North India to do so. It was launched by State Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh from the capital city of Shimla.

About RISHTA project

• The scheme is also known as Centralized Control and Monitoring System (CCMS) Smart Street Lighting Scheme for Urban Local bodies which implements LED based street lighting project.
• This project is being implemented by collaboration of state Urban Development Department and Energy Efficient Services Limited (EESL).
• Investment: For this project EESL will invest all the capital upfront to implementation of Project.
• Municipalities will pay back this investment to EESL over a period of 7 years from energy and cost savings that will accrue as a result of installation of energy efficient LED lights.
• In this project total of 63,484 street lights will be replaced with LEDs in all the Urban Local Bodies to achieve 45 to 55 percent energy savings.

Note:  Efficient Services Limited (EESL) is a joint venture (JV) company formed by 4 public power sectors entities namely National Thermal Power Corporation, Power Grid Corporation of India, Power Finance Corporation Ltd. and Rural Electrification Corporation.