Yellow LEDs replace white

More than half of the Marine Drive stretch has got its golden glow back as around 400 white streetlights have been replaced with yellow ones. There are some 200 more lights on the entire Marine Drive stretch, which still have to be converted into yellow lights.

The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), which is installing the yellow LEDs in place of white, on the iconic road said that the work would be completed by the end of January. An EESL official said, “Since it is a VIP stretch, we have been doing the work of changing the lights only at night time. While around 400 street lights have been changed, 200 will be fixed soon.”

In January last year, the BMC had replaced sodium vapour lamps with white LED lights on the Marine Drive stretch, claiming that LED lights would be energy efficient and cost-effective. However, the decision was mired in controversy with demands that yellow lights should be brought back as their absence had robbed the Queen’s Necklace of its charm. The high court later directed the civic body to replace white LED lights with yellow ones by first evaluating its illumination on a small stretch of Marine Drive. Accordingly, lux (International System of Units for illuminance) measurement of yellow LEDs was checked on four street poles near Wankhede Stadium. The civic body then decided that white LEDs could be replaced by yellow LED street lights on the entire Marine Drive road from Nariman Point to Walkeshwar.

Shiv Sena-nominated corporator Avkash Jadhav, who has been pursuing the matter with the BMC, visited the spot on midnight of January 26 and expressed happiness over the issue. “I am happy to see that the struggle which began a year ago is finally bearing fruits. The charm of the Queen’s Necklace was lost with the white LEDs, but it is expected to be back by this experiment,” he said.

Marine Drive resident Mahendra Hemdev said that it’s good that the golden glow of Marine Drive is back with the LED lights, which are cost effective and energy efficient.