The Hindu : National : Himachal to distribute eco-friendly CFLs

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Himachal to distribute eco-friendly CFLs

Staff Correspondent

SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh Government will launch a scheme, “Atal Bijli Bachat Yojna”, on Sunday in Kullu under which free eco-friendly Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) will be distributed to domestic consumers.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal will hand out four free bulbs to every domestic consumer of Dhalpur village in Kullu. The scheme, first of its kind in the country, is named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who has a mansion at Prini in Kullu-Manali.

The scheme, described by the State Government as a noble effort, envisages huge saving of electricity besides earning additional income through power trading and in the form of carbon credits.

The scheme has a provision for free distribution of 64 lakh CFLs to 16 lakh domestic consumers of the State in replacement of conventional incandescent lamps by spending Rs.70-80 crore.

Every consumer would be given four CFLs, two 15 watt and two 20 watt, free of cost as a replacement for two 60 watt and two 100 watt incandescent lamps to encourage use of eco-friendly domestic lighting. In case any CFL turns out to be defective within one and half year of installation, it would be replaced free of cost.

The scheme is expected to contribute towards saving 270 million units of energy over a year.

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