Just three days after Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal launched the Rs 80-crore energy saving scheme, designed to provide free compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) to all domestic consumers, Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board has called the country's top CFL manufacturers to work out modalities for the scheme's implementation. A meeting will be held here on Tuesday to kickstart the tendering process and also assess availability of high-quality 64 lakh CFL bulbs in the market. Reports say the companies will be required to arrange some extra supplies as presently only limited supplies are made to dealers. "This is an innovative scheme. It's for the first time a state government has taken upon itself the job of distributing CFL bulbs free to every domestic consumer. There is no categorisation on economic or geographical considerations, which makes the scheme different than that implemented in Delhi or Haryana,' says Ajay Mittal, Principal Secretary, Power, also HPSEB chairman. The supplies, he says, will be ordered after calling open bids and ensuring quality in the products. HPSEB has decided to seek a Rs 70-crore soft loan from the state government, payable in equal installments within three months. The distribution of CFL bulbs will start after the HPSEB starts getting supplies from the manufacturing companies. HPSEB engineers claim that each CFL bulb of 14 watts and 20 watts provide lighting almost equivalent to 60 and 100 watts of incandescent bulbs. There is a saving of up to 80 per cent in every CFL bulb. Since most consumers in urban areas have tubelights instead of bulbs, the government proposes to invite tenders for standard CFL tubelights, which could be made available at subsided rates. But that part is expected to be covered in the second phase of the scheme after making a beginning with CFL bulbs. When asked if the Hamirpur byelection will make the HPSEB hold back the scheme, Mittal said HPSEB will take more than a month to finish formalities and distribution of bulbs will start only after that.