16 November,2017 06:22 PM IST | Mumbai | Laxman Singh
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is going all out to maintain the prestige associated with the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) area's UNESCO World Heritage Site tag
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is going all out to maintain the prestige associated with the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) area's UNESCO World Heritage Site tag. Its ambitious Rs 1-crore project of replacing the existing light poles in the area with heritage street lampposts has got the final approval from the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC). The civic body had proposed to change the street lamps to match the aesthetics of the surroundings.
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The new installations
Currently, there are 32 light poles and traffic signal poles in the CSMT area. The civic body has planned to install nine high-mast artistic lampposts with antique heritage poles in place of these current 32 ordinary poles. The height of five such street poles will be 39 feet and the rest will be traffic signal poles. All these poles will be based on designs by the renowned architecture and design firm Maia Design.
Assistant Municipal Commissioner of A ward (Colaba, Fort), Kiran Dighavkar, said, "The proposal has been cleared by the heritage committee. We will soon start the process of installing these specially designed heritage lampposts. The life of the lampposts will be about 25 years. The best part is that these lampposts have additional space so that in future if needed, new traffic signal posts can be installed on the same lampposts."
Sketches of the heritage lampposts
He added, "Similarly, street lights will be replaced near the Taj hotel. The road that connects Radio Club to the Taj will have heritage lampposts. These will be installed with the help of Taj's corporate social responsibility fund."
The plan
The proposed poles will have four lamps each and all bulbs will be 136 watt LED. An official from the BMC said, "These new lights will increase the LUX level to 34 and save on the electricity bills. With the help of these lamps, the light in the area will be increased by 10%."
