Old bulbs fetch Rs 70L for corporation

Coimbatore: After replacing old street light bulbs with LED bulbs, the city corporation has sold off close to 59,000 old bulbs of different types as they remained unused.
The 58, 878 bulbs were sold to a Chennai-based company through a bidding process at Rs 74, 85, 541 inclusive of GST. The sale was approved by the special council meeting held in the presence of corporation commissioner Raja Gopal Sunkara on October 28.
An official from the corporation said the work to replace the old bulbs such as tube lights, CFL and sodium vapour lights in the 60 wards of the city started in 2018 and ended in 2020 under the smart city scheme. The project was taken up to bring down the electricity bills, as old conventional bulbs consumed more power, and to bring uniformity in the type of street light bulbs used in the city.
A total of 9, 310 tube lights, 10,055 CFL lights and 39, 513 sodium vapour lights ranging between 70-Watt to 400-Watt were lying idle in the corporation’s storerooms. While it was decided it monetize the old bulbs, a bidding process was opened in September and the Chennai-based company quoted the highest amount.
The official said each 40-Watt tube light was sold at Rs 33, sodium vapour lights with a capacity of 250-Watt at Rs 212 apiece and 400-Watt bulbs were sold at Rs 312 apiece.