It was a Saturday evening. As I reached home after attending a media seminar in Symbiosis institute, I got to know that my family had planned to drive all the way to BIAL. Why? Just like that... :) A long drive on a late Saturday evening feels good. A drive to BIAL had been a long lost plan. After having read a lot of views, opinions about the new international airport in newspapers, I kind of looked forward for the drive.
The pathway to BIAL is truly remarkable. The array of street lights, if looked at poetically, gives you an impression that a series of pearls have been carefully picked and arranged against a black background. The whole path looks illuminated. The very neatly landscaped median adds on to the whole beauty of it.
In spite of all the above mentioned positive aspects of the pathway, there was one thing which kept constantly striking me. That is, the excessive number of street lights throughout the way. I am not sure about the exact number; there were hundreds and hundreds of them! So one might ask, what is my problem if there are so many street lights?
My issue- Is there a need for so many street lights? What I noticed was the proximity at which each of these poles were placed. That was when I felt that there was an unnecessary wastage of electricity by placing these street light poles so close to each other. In fact, at a particular stretch I even noticed that even though a few lights were put off (alternate light poles were lit), the road still looked well illuminated. So why not cut down on the number of street lights being used? Won’t that be beneficial in saving electricity?
Even though I was constantly being asked to enjoy the beauty of the pathway and not analyse the reason behind erecting that many street lights, I somehow couldn’t stop ignoring the unnecessary wastage of electricity being done.
I also agree that there might be scientific and security reasons behind fixing specific number of lights. But, what is that specific reason? If anybody has an answer, do let me know.
I disagree that putting up dozens of streetlights on the BIAL road is a waste of electricity. This is why-
ReplyDelete-BIAL is an International Airport. It has got to maintain certain standards. NO one can deny the fact that the road to BIAL looks especially beautiful because of the dozens of streetlights. Besides why give the international tourists a dark and dingy road to travel on? Agreed India is not as financially sound as the European countries, but that is absolutely not a reason to present India as a 'SlumDog' image. India is fast progressing both technologically and financially and so I think I think the streetlights are absolutely necessary. The specific reason is the standard that BIAL has to maintain.
-If this is a waste of electricity, what about the 'Namma Metro' project coming up in Bangalore? Metro trains run on electricity. Till now no one seems to be getting seriously affected because Bangalore has no Metro trains. Our lives are still perfect and going on about as usual. Do we really need the Metro Trains? There are people dying of hunger in our own country, and a hundred villages which still do not have proper electricity.
- What about the fancy lights put up during marriages and diwali? Its almost a competition so as to who can put up the maximum number of lights. Isn't that a waste of electricity too?