New Delhi: The New Delhi Municipal Council, which made news in 2014 for giving away sweets worth Rs 94 lakh to its employees on Holi, will distribute LED lights this year, a decision in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for conservation of energy.

"We distribute sweets to our safai karamcharis (sanitation workers) every year on Holi. But last year we distributed them to all our employees. This year we will replace the sweets with LED lights," NDMC chairperson Jalaj Srivastava said on Wednesday.

An RTI application in 2014 had revealed that, the civic body had distributed sweets worth Rs 94 lakh to its staff on the occasion of Holi. NDMC had later justified the high 'sweet budget' by saying the authorities decided that distribution of sweets on Holi will not be limited to sanitation staff and would include all employees of the civic body. This year the NDMC has decided to distribute LED bulbs to its employees on the festival.

"In order to encourage our employees to conserve energy, we will distribute 3 LED bulbs to each of them on Holi," he said, adding, the normal usage of a household includes five bulbs on an average.

The employees will be encouraged to purchase two more bulbs on their own, Srivastava said. He, however, didn't reveal the budget for the distribution.

Prime Minister Modi had launched a scheme on Monday for distribution of LED bulbs under the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP).

As per the scheme, Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs will be provided to all domestic consumers at an initial payment of Rs 10 each, recovery of which will be done in 12 months from their electricity bill.

Hence, the cost for an LED bulb to domestic consumer will be Rs 130 through the programme due to bulk procurement, compared to the current open market retail price in the range of Rs 350-Rs 600 for LED bulbs.

The NDMC chairperson also said that they will encourage households, hospitals, and schools under its jurisdiction to procure these bulbs at the earliest and save energy.

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