Now, Raisina Hill to be lit up round the yr

NEW DELHI: A lit-up Raisina Hill will become a permanent sight from coming Wednesday during evening hours.

The Union housing and urban affairs ministry has decided to illuminate the Central Vista comprising the North and South Block round the year, from 7pm to 5am, with dynamic facade lighting on the lines of a similar practice at historic world sites such as London’s Big Ben, Paris’ Eiffel Tower, and Sydney’s Opera House.

“The new lighting will be on show from 7pm to 5am all through the year with full capacity prime time lighting from 8pm to 9pm. The lighting will move from being static to dynamic, comprising 16 million colour patterns, offering an enhanced aesthetic experience,” a ministry spokesman said.

At present, the Central Vista is lit up only on eight select days, including the Republic Day, Independence Day, and Diwali.

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD), an agency under the housing and urban affairs ministry, which is responsible for the upkeep of these iconic buildings, will be putting up the lights over an area of 21,450 square metres.

Ministry officials said that the CPWD will invest ₹15 crore on the new lighting. The ministry started working on the proposal following a recommendation from the Prime Minister’s Office during a presentation by a group of secretaries last month. The panel of top bureaucrats was constituted last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review government programmes and give budget ideas for 2017-18 on the health, sanitation and urban development sector.

The CPWD will light up the Raisina Hill using energy-efficient LED lights and will be able to save ₹86 lakh annually.

“The LED lights are durable, low cost, energy efficient and environment friendly. The life of the new LED light fittings is over one lakh burning hours, coming to about 25 years, as against only 10,000 burning hours of the existing lights,” a ministry official said.