India carried out a strike on nine targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) under Operation Sindoor during the early hours of May 7 as a reply to a heart-wrenching Pahalgam attack.
This attack was followed by a series of blackouts, and amid the same, in Amritsar, soon after 12 am, a Pune-based company, Samudra LED, was asked to switch off their street lights. Notably, the call was received by the Smart City Corporation.
While addressing the same, Anaad Thote, the general manager of projects, design, and branding at Samudra LED, said, “Though we have a 24×7 call center, the access for turning off all the street lights is only at a supervisory level. The other people, even those who operate the street wiring software, do not have access to certain features of the software because it is a delicate matter. If someone accidentally turns off all the street lights, the result would be a lot of chaos and safety concerns.”
A few minutes after that emergency call, the supervisory access was used to log in to the system, cut the power supply to all street lights, and darken the road. The company would be re-contacted to ask it to switch off the lamps on the evening of May 11.
Amritsar Smart City Corporation has now sent a letter to Samudra LED, giving thanksgiving for its support in the functioning. There is a special mention as to how, through the tailor-made Lighting Management Software by Samudra LED, the switching ON/OFF of 80000 street lights was done with just a single command according to the desired timelines and predetermined directions of the office of the deputy commissioner, Amritsar.
The letter further read, “The feature was particularly useful, which added to the city/citizen safety during the four days of the conflict.”
Energy-saving projects were undertaken by Samudra LED to patent street lighting systems for various municipal corporations. Anand further mentioned, “This is a remote system, so no matter where you are located geographically, you can still keep a watch on how the street lights are performing and how much power it is consuming, among other things. The centralized control and monitoring system is a combination of our in-house developed hardware and software.”
Furthermore, he mentioned that the company can easily configure if the government has decided to change the operational hours for the street lights. In this matter, he was quoted saying, “If they tell us that in one particular area, there is an activity happening for which the lights only in that area are to be powered on a little earlier than usual, we can do that at the touch of a button.”
The idea for the installment of an emergency switch was brainstormed by the managing director of Samudra LED, Prafulla Madhukar Thote, who had witnessed the India-Pakistan war of 1971 as a young man. While highlighting the same, Anand mentioned, “This was 10-15 years ago. We asked why he wanted an emergency switch. He said, ‘If there is a situation and we need to turn all the lamps off, we don’t have any facility to do that.’ He was firm that this feature had to be included. We are so proud of him today.”
He further stated about ‘zero upfront cost’ and mentioned, “We do not charge a single paise upfront from the municipal corporation. We install street lights and our entire lighting system for them at zero upfront cost.” They charge based on a baseline audit in which they inform the municipality of how much power they are using.
Furthermore, Anand outlined, “We tell them that we can give you anywhere between 60 to 80 percent energy saving. This is assured, not theoretical. So, for example, if the municipal corporation was paying Rs 1,000 as their monthly electricity bill before installing Samudra lights, then after installing our high-efficacy LED street lights, that amount will come down to Rs 200. From the Rs 800 saved monthly, we want them to give us Rs 700 and retain Rs 100 as an incentive.”
The team of Samudra LED has expressed happiness and satisfaction for playing a responsible role during Operation Sindoor. And highlighting the same, Anand said, “As a Pune company that served India during Operation Sindoor, it was a proud moment.”