BENGALURU: More than nine months after the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) to distribute LED bulbs was nationally launched, not a household in Karnataka has received a bulb. The reason: political oneupmanship, lack of clarity on beneficiaries and absence of a distribution system.

There's a disagreement between the Centre and Karnataka government on the number of BPL beneficiaries . Energy minister DK Shivakumar said, "The Centre's scheme is meant for the underprivileged people. There was no clarity on the distribution of LED bulbs . They wanted us to give it specifically to BPL card-holders and Antyodaya card-holders , and the identification (of beneficiaries) was taking time. We are on the job, and have asked the department to start the distribution immediately."

However, sources say the delay could be Karnataka's ploy to buy time to use the Centre's DELP funds to cross-subsidize its own LED bulbs scheme. The state government has announced distribution of LED bulbs to all categories of people at subsidized rates from January 2016.

READ ALSO: Government distributes 2 crore LED bulbs, saves Rs 1,000 crore a year

Shivakumar said, "We are looking to launch our scheme to distribute 6 crore LED bulbs by December this year."

The minister said the state government would encourage local manufacturers under a 40:60 scheme. While 40% of the LED bulbs will be procured from local manufacturers, the rest will be from manufacturers across the country.

But how will the government distribute the LED bulbs? Bescom officials say there is no distribution system in place. As there is no nodal agency or consumer awareness system for the scheme, all electricity supply companies of the state will meet on October 26 to discuss the distribution system.

Look at the neighbour

While Karnataka haggles over the number of BPL beneficiaries, Andhra Pradesh has distributed 65 lakh LED bulbs since DELP was launched in January.

Besides, Delhi has distributed 34 lakh LED bulbs and Uttar Pradesh 33 lakh. According to the central government, the country is saving 73 lakh units every day - or Rs 2.9 crore - after the distribution of two crore LED bulbs.

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Pay Rs 10 and take home an LED

Bengalureans may have to pay Rs107 to Rs110 for a 2 Watt LED bulb. They will be able to get a maximum 15 bulbs - five 2Watt bulbs, and 10 bulbs with power between 2Watt and 10Watt.

Bescom has learnt to have sought approval from KERC to give consumers a 10-month EMI scheme, with an initial payment of Rs 10. The rest of the price will be added to monthly power bills.