Lamp posts designed in Madhya Pradesh at a total cost of Rs. 1 crore

Mysore/Mysuru: Every evening at 6.30 pm or so, the Heritage K.R. Circle glows with elegant lights that have been installed at a cost of Rs. 1 crore. These heritage lamps that have been installed there give the Circle a new look and the lights are attracting onlookers who are pausing for a moment to look at the shiny surface and the art formations.

In all, 10 lamp posts have been installed by the Tourism Department in different directions of the Circle and each lamp post has four elephant heads looking in four different directions. The cast iron poles are specially brought from Madhya Pradesh where they were designed and manufactured.

Even a metro city like Bengaluru does not have such ornate lamp poles and with their installation, the K.R. Circle has got a new and unique look, reminiscent of the times of Mysore Maharajas. The light poles were inaugurated recently by Mysuru District Minister S.T. Somashekar in the presence of Chamaraja MLA L. Nagendra, Mayor Sunanda Palanetra, Corporator Prameela Bharat, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Traffic) Geetha Prasanna and other dignitaries.

Each lamp post measures 24-ft in height and the poles have been erected on 2-ft concrete platforms. The light poles have two bulbs — one of 150 Watt and the other of 100 Watt power. These aesthetic poles have durability and longevity to withstand the vagaries of nature, without getting rusted or damaged.

Interestingly, the bulbs that have a capacity of 150 Watt have been pointed towards the road as more brightness is needed in that direction and the 100 Watt bulbs have been installed in such a way that they point to the footpaths where there is no need for more brightness and are pleasant to the eyes.

The KRIDL (Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited) is the implementing agency of the project and the poles have been manufactured by a firm that specialises in it from Madhya Pradesh.

The actual cost of each pole is about Rs. 5.5 lakh and the overall cost per pole is Rs. 10 lakh including civil works, electrification, bulbs, GST, transportation, road cutting and also UGD works.

The project managers said that enough care was taken to ensure that the pillars do not sustain scratches while being shifted from Madhya Pradesh to Mysuru via road. The lamp posts were padded and loaded onto a truck.

It may be recalled here that in the past too, many lamp posts of different designs were installed in the city and they were removed as they were not found to be much attractive or have corroded over time.