STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Stating that in a short period of over two years at the Centre, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a number of innovative and people-friendly schemes aimed at upliftment of various sections of the society. Balbir said Ujala is one of the most innovative mega project in post independence India, which has varied advantages and almost every household is going to be benefitted by it. “Under this scheme, which was launched in Jammu and Kashmir State by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Dy. Chief Minister Dr. Nirmal Singh, every registered consumer of Department of Power Development in the State is entitled to get five high quality Light-Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs at subsidized price and each bulb is stated to be reducing the bill by 150-250 rupees per year”, Balbir said and added that use of LED bulb will save electricity, bring down the bills and is environment friendly gadget. Speaking on the procedure and formalities for getting these LED bulbs under this scheme, 9 watt each, Balbir said that any registered domestic consumer has to produce electricity bill alongwith his or her photo ID and residential address proofs as legal documents and in just one hundred rupees, five bulbs can be obtained in the local vicinity. “Since the consumer has to pay only 20 rupees per bulb under Ujala, the balance some of around Rs. 77 per bulb is to be borne by the government in the form of subsidy”, he said and added that in Jammu and Kashmir the Power Develo-pment Department will be distributing 80 lakh LED bulbs to be dispersed among 16 lakh registered consumers. This will help in reducing peak demands by about 250 MW besides help in saving energy utilization by 260 million units of electricity, thus, saving about Rs. 130 crore on an annual basis, which is indeed going to be a rare step towards providing round the clock electricity to the people.
