Kolkata Municipal Corporation Forges Strategic Partnership with TCS for Advanced Smart Street Lighting Initiative
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has announced a significant collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a prominent Tata Group firm, to develop a comprehensive, digitized, and centralized smart city street lighting system. This initiative aims to create an error-free monitoring framework that will transform urban illumination management across Kolkata.
Centralized Monitoring and Control Infrastructure
According to Sandip Ranjan Bakshi, the mayor-in-council member overseeing the KMC lighting department, the civic body has engaged TCS to implement a sophisticated system that will oversee street light operations from four centralized lighting zones strategically located throughout the city. A dedicated control room will be established for KMC lighting department officials, enabling real-time monitoring of street light functionality across municipal areas.
"Electrical department staff will receive immediate alerts when street lights malfunction in specific neighborhoods," explained Bakshi. "This technological advancement will facilitate more prompt corrective actions compared to our current reliance on citizen reports from affected areas, which often experience delays."
TCS's Intelligent Urban Exchange Platform
TCS will deploy its Intelligent Urban Exchange (IUX) platform, which provides intelligent, Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled street lighting solutions designed to reduce energy consumption by up to 27%. These smart solutions incorporate automated scheduling protocols, intelligent dimming capabilities, and centralized control mechanisms to optimize urban lighting infrastructure management efficiently.
Pilot Project and Expansion Strategy
Bakshi revealed that, pending successful planning, KMC in association with TCS will initiate a pilot project in the Alipore and Kalighat areas. These locations will serve as testing grounds for the new digitized system implementation. "Depending on the results of the pilot project, we will make decisions regarding system rollout across the remainder of the city," stated the MMiC. He further noted that TCS has successfully implemented similar systems in Chandigarh and Noida, demonstrating proven expertise in this domain.
Addressing Kolkata's Lighting Challenges
A KMC electrical department source disclosed that approximately 15,000 out of 300,000 street light poles malfunction at any given time, resulting in certain neighborhoods experiencing darkness. "It is accurate that we currently struggle to implement timely corrective measures in areas where frequent street lamp failures create persistent dark zones," acknowledged a civic official.
According to KMC officials, several problematic dark zones persist across Kolkata, including the Ballygunge-Picnic Garden area, port zone, Dum Dum-Cossipore zone, Sealdah, sections within the BBD Bagh zone, and specific stretches along EM Bypass, among others.
Four-Zone Monitoring Framework
Sources within KMC indicate that the centralized street light monitoring cell will be organized across four geographical zones: north-central, south, east, and west. "Once we proceed with the project implementation, we will need to install sophisticated technological gadgets that will enable precise identification of problems within the street lighting system," explained a KMC official.
This ambitious partnership represents a substantial step toward modernizing Kolkata's urban infrastructure, leveraging cutting-edge technology to enhance public safety, reduce energy consumption, and improve municipal service responsiveness through intelligent lighting management solutions.
