Patna: The Bihar government has warned agencies implementing the chief minister’s rural solar street light scheme to meet installation targets on time and ensure swift replacement of faulty units, amid recurring complaints from gram panchayats.
At a review meeting in Patna on Thursday, the secretary of the Panchayati Raj department, Manoj Kumar, said delays and technical lapses would invite financial penalties. Agencies were directed to complete installations within stipulated timelines and to replace defective lights promptly after receiving reports.
Officials were also instructed to ensure 100% integration of all installed solar street lights with the centralised monitoring system (CMS) developed by the Bihar Renewable Energy Development Agency (BREDA). Kumar said every light must be connected to the CMS within three days of installation to enable real-time monitoring and maintenance.
Payments from the maintenance budget will be withheld from agencies that fail to complete CMS integration on time or do not replace faulty lights within the prescribed period, the department said.
The meeting also flagged signal loss issues on the CMS portal. Agencies were told to resolve the problem on a priority basis, while officials were asked to inspect service stations set up by maintenance contractors in the field.
The review was attended by senior officials from the Panchayati Raj department, including director Naveen Kumar Singh, additional secretary Aditya Prakash and joint secretary Shams Javed Ansari, along with representatives from BREDA, Amnex Infotechnologies—the CMS operator—and installation agencies.
