Utilising the damage wrought by cyclone Hudhud as an opportunity, a proposal is being made to install LED street-lighting in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram, Municipal Administration Minister P. Narayana said.
The plan is to cover at least 50 per cent of the street-lighting by LED lamps, the Minister said here on Wednesday.
Engineer-in-Chief of Public Health Panduranga Rao held a meeting with officials and would assess the feasibility. The Principal Secretary, MA&UD, has been speaking to the Union government to get it. Street lighting would be fully restored in a week, he said.
GVMC has been toying with the idea of introducing LED lighting for years now.
The Minister, who has been supervising relief operations camping since the cyclone struck the city, told The Hindu that water supply was restored 100 per cent and electricity almost and debris clearance was over 99 per cent.
Yet to be clearedHowever, drains have to be cleared by the sanitary workers and it would take a week for it, Mr. Narayana said.
On whether the State government would seek special assistance for Visakhapatnam, being the rare instance of a city devastated by cyclone, he said an assistance of Rs.7,900 crore was sought for the loss suffered by the State government alone.
On the problems faced by slum-dwellers after the cyclone, the Minister said of the 28,000 houses constructed by weaker sections under various schemes, only 60 per cent were occupied. The only long-term solution was the Central government’s plan to provide pucca houses to all by 2022.
Several of the 92 parks in the city were cleaned up. Of the three big parks -- Sivaji Park and VUDA Park – were already opened. Kailasagiri would be made the biggest tourist attraction in the city and would be opened in the next three days with power being restored on Wednesday.
Own experienceMunicipal Administration Minister P. Narayana was on the road to Kailasagiri around 2.30 p.m. when cyclone Hudhud struck on October 12. “Education Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao was with us and a small stone hit his car damaging the glass and the cars were being turned this way and that way by the wind,” the Minister said.
“And it took us four hours to reach Daspalla hotel from Kailasagiri,” he recalled.
