Bombay consumers, particularly the largest consumers which include shopping malls, movie theatres, hotels, corporate offices, ought to get into their heads that they should conserve the precious electricity that is bestowed upon Bombay. But the ground reality is ugly. Most of these big consumers disregard the importance of conservation.
For instance, yesterday, I had gone to attend a conference at ITC Grand Central Hotel at Parel (10 kms north of the southernmost tip of Bombay) and I noticed some sheer criminal wastage of electricity.
It was just 6 pm, and since its summertime in Bombay now there is very good daylight till 7.30 pm, and yet the hotel lobby whose windows are near the open space outside, was lit by a large number of bulbs. I clicked a photo of the lit lobby from my camera phone. In the photo, notice the lit chandeliers with 5-6 bulbs in each plus embedded bulbs on the roof and at the far end of the photo as well as on the right side of the photo you see bright light coming in from the windows from the natural sun-lit day outside. I think the hotel must be keeping these lights on throughout the daytime too.
There was worse. In the toilet I saw two TV screens next to each other above the urinals. These were on and playing a business channel. Now, what's more important? A Bombay hotel visitor watching news when he urinates? Or a non-Bombay consumer having electricity to switch on light in his toilet during night? The Maharashtra state government bodies and the Bombay Municipal Corporation which directly or indirectly regulate these hotels and other big power consumers turn a blind eye to such criminal wastage of electricity. Its disgraceful.
This part was added on 12 Oct 2008:
Two months back, on 12 August 2008, I came across another example of mindless use of electricity. See the pic alongside. I clicked it in the men's toilet of PVR movie theatre at Oberoi Mall in Goregaon East. There are three TV screens (the ones showing orange-coloured visuals) visible here but there were 3-4 more.
