All norms were followed while deciding to award the contract for installation of LED street lights across the city to SIDCO, Mayor K. Chandrika has said. In a press conference here on Wednesday, she refuted the allegations levelled by a group of councillors of the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) in this regard.
On Tuesday, the UDF councillors had alleged corruption in the awarding of the LED street light project to SIDCO, instead of Keltron. They said that the Corporation had decided to buy poor quality Chinese LED lights from a private dealer in Bangalore through SIDCO.
The Mayor said the existing street lights had been causing enormous burden to the Corporation, following increase in electricity charges and maintenance cost. An amount of Rs.1.25 crore was being spent currently for this purpose.
“It was in a meeting held on April 26 last year that the steering committee decided to go in for LED street lights. Following this, a technical committee was formed and expression of interest was called.
Thirteen companies, including private ones, responded to this. Keltron did not submit EOI then. Later, we decided not to consider private companies and also approached Keltron. The proposals submitted by Keltron and SIDCO were scrutinised by a technical committee and the samples of the LED lights were tested at the laboratory in CET. In these tests, SIDCO’s lights were found to be better. The legal opinion was also in favour of SIDCO,” said the Mayor.
The Opposition had alleged that the Chinese lamps supplied by SIDCO consumed 18 watts, while the Keltron lamp consumed only 5 watts. They had also demanded that action needed to be taken against the Mayor and the standing committee chairperson.
Says all norms followed in LED street light deal
