First electric streetlight installed in the of asia.
You know that Where was the first
electric street light installed in the whole of Asia. The first street light in
Asia was installed in India in Bangalore. It was installed on 05/08/1905. To
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Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka,
was established in 1537. Then perhaps only ghee or oil lamps would have been
lit here. After this, kerosene lamps were lit. About 115 years ago today, this
city got its first electric street light. Some people say that this was the
first street light in Asia which was installed in India. Today we have brought
an interesting anecdote related to the installation of the same street light.
It dates back to 1902 when
kerosene-burning lamps were installed in the streets of Bangalore. Three people
were hired to maintain them. One would fill them with oil, the other would burn
them and the third would clean their black glass. A manager was also kept to
keep an eye on all these. This work was very complicated. Hence the need for
electricity was felt.
According to Meera Iyer, author of
‘Discovering Bengaluru: History. Neighbourhoods. Walks’, the oldest and still
functioning hydroelectric plant was established near Darjeeling in 1896 and it
was the Cauvery Falls Power Scheme that was the next project to get the nod.
Lighting up the city’s central areas
was dirty work. “The local administration had appointed three men for the
street lamps – one would clean the black smoke left by the burning fuel, the
other to pump gas and the other to light the flame. This was a daily evening
affair and there was one Light
Inspector appointed by the government to monitor the lighting scheme then,”
says city historian Vemagal Somashekar.
On August 5, 1905, Bengalurueans saw their first electric streetlights. More than a year earlier, William McHutchin, a Briton trained in the Madras Civil Engineering College and the then chief engineer of Bengaluru at the Public Works Department, wrote a letter to the Maharaja of Mysore. “He was a true visionary who saw the prospects of Benguluru turning into a larger city.
So, in his letter to the Maharaja, he pressed the need for electrifying Bengaluru with the 300 to 400 HP of surplus power generated by the Shivanasamudra hydro-electric power station which was at the time generating power for the Kolar Gold Fields,” says historian Gajanana Sharma, a retired superintendent engineer of the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL).
Sharma knows what he is talking about, being the author of ‘Belakaithu
Karnataka’ (Illuminated Karnataka). The book describes the spread of
electricity through the state and was launched in 2003 to celebrate the
centenary of the electric power in Karnataka.
According to Sharma, the Maharaja gave his formal approval for the
electrification of Bengaluru in a letter dated May 30, 1904. The project was
estimated to cost Rs 7.46 lakh. “Work on the power lines to Bengaluru began at
Kankanhalli (now Kanakapura), with the installation of a switch station and
lines running 57 miles to the city were laid in just nine months.
Interestingly, the numerous twin wooden poles carrying the wires to Bengaluru
were specially imported from Australia. The original Kanakapura station
building still stands today next to the new one constructed much later,” he
says.
There is a file on the early days of electrified Bengaluru at the Karnataka
State Archives on the Bangalore Power and Lighting Scheme 1904-05.
Compiled by Major deLotbiniere, it shows an annual maintenance expense of Rs 50,000 and an estimated annual income of over Rs 1.18 lakh. The author clearly foresaw a significant section of the Bengaluru population shifting to electric power - charged at Re 1 per month for an electric bulb. A substation was built near the Victoria hospital with a transformer of 450kv capacity to receive power from Kankanhalli for the city lighting scheme.
“Finally, after nine months of power line works carried out on a war footing,
the Saturday evening of August 5, 1905 saw over 100 streetlights lit up
Siddikatte, now KR Market, after a ceremony where Sir John Hewett, member of
the Viceroy’s Council, pulling the switch much to the awe of the crowd gathered
there,” says Sharma.
Apart from the streetlights, houses in the area near the market also received
power supply and according to an official report of the Bangalore Power and
Lighting Scheme in June 1906, there were 861 streetlights and 1,639 domestic
connections that generated a revenue of Rs 36,476. A 16 candle bulb (today’s
equivalent to 40 watt) cost residents Re 1 every month. The fare was considered
steep and affluent city residents showed off their new sources of illumination.
Two of the original 30ft street lamp posts that lit up the night of August 5,
1905 still stand inside the BBMP head office at Corporation Circle but they are
in poor shape. “I clearly remember the wrought iron street lamps in front of KR
Market and at Hudson Circle till the late 80s after which they vanished without
a trace. Few years ago two of the lamps were found inside the BBMP office
premises but without any mention of its significance that they are Asia’s first
streetlights,” laments Naresh.V. Narasimhan, a city-based architect.
Given the scant regard that city authorities seem to place on Bengaluru’s
history, the future of those lamp posts doesn’t look bright.
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