Delhi To Get 20,000 Smart Street Lights By Diwali With Real-Time Monitoring

Delhi will replace 20,000 old and dysfunctional street lights with smart LED lights by Diwali, with a centralised control room set to monitor each light in real time and detect faults without waiting for residents to lodge complaints.

The rollout is part of the Public Works Department's Smart Street Light Project, under which 1 lakh old street lights across the capital are to be replaced by January 2027.

A Command and Control Centre at the PWD headquarters will continuously monitor the functioning of the lights and allow officials to identify faulty or non-functional lights remotely.

The system will also allow the department to control the lights from the centre, which the government says will help speed up maintenance and response.

"Every street light will be monitored in real time, and any malfunction can be identified immediately," PWD Minister Parvesh Verma said on Thursday.

"The system will also allow remote control of the lights, enabling faster response and maintenance," he said.

At present, officials can in many cases come to know about a dysfunctional street light only after a complaint is received.

The new system is designed to change that by continuously tracking the status of the lights and flagging faults automatically.

"Earlier, there was no mechanism for real-time monitoring. In many cases, information about a faulty light reached the department only after a complaint was received," Verma said.

"With the new system, the department will know about the problem and can take action without waiting for a complaint," he added.

Smart LEDs To Replace Sodium Lights

The project will replace conventional sodium lights with energy-efficient smart LED lights.

Officials estimate that the shift could save around Rs 30 crore annually in electricity and maintenance costs.

The Smart Street Light Project has an estimated cost of around Rs 473 crore, including five years of operation and maintenance.

The government has also linked payments to the performance of the lighting network.

The private agency carrying out the project will receive monthly payments only after the installed lights are fully operational, making it responsible for their performance, upkeep and timely maintenance during the contract period.

The arrangement is aimed at ensuring that the agency remains responsible not just for installing the lights but also for keeping them functional.

Focus On Dark Spots, Road Safety

The government says the project will also help address dark spots caused by dysfunctional street lights across Delhi.

It has linked better street lighting to road safety and women's safety, particularly on stretches where inadequate illumination has been a concern.

The first major target is to replace 20,000 street lights by Diwali, followed by the full replacement of 1 lakh lights by January 2027.

Once the new monitoring system is in place, the PWD will be able to detect faults from its control room instead of depending only on complaints from residents to identify a street light that has stopped working.