New Delhi: The flagship programme of Centre UJALA - Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for ALL – has helped wipe out the dark side of environmental damage.

Carbon dioxide emission reduction of 3.93 million metric tonnes per year, equating to removing approximately 4.7 million cars from the road each year, is no mean achievement.

Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the UJALA programme launched on January 5, 2015 as part of the Saubhagya Yojana, has been a great boost to the environment. In the last eight years, approximately 37 crore LEDs, 72 lakh LED tube lights, and 23.60 lakh energy-efficient fans have been distributed.

The programme has helped save 48.39 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year and checked 9,788 MW of peak demand.

The environment-friendly programme being implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), has cut 15 pc of the people’s electricity bills saving Rs 19,332 crore of power bills.

With annual sales of more than Rs 21 billion bulbs, India has become the world's largest LED market. The Make in India programme has encouraged many entrepreneurs to venture into manufacturing of LED bulbs, as a result the prices of the bulbs have also dropped by approximately 90 per cent. The LED bulb, which used to cost around Rs 400 in 2015, is available in the open market for around Rs 75 in 2022.

An MoU was signed with the Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihoods Mission recently. Under the agreement, Ujala appliances will be distributed in the state through self-help groups.

To perk up sales, fans, bulbs, tubelights and streetlights will be replaced with smart LED lights and efficient brushless DC electric motor (BLDC) fans as part of the project to make deep penetration of UJALA scheme to the masses.

The EESL has tied up with the Department of Posts to leverage its nationwide network for sale of energy-efficient equipment.

Experiments on light densely populated areas are currently underway, such as the Delhi-Chandigarh National Highway 1, which has been illuminated with green LED bulbs. /BI/