Travelling risky as street lights defunct on Barnala overbridge

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, November 26

The street lights installed on the overbridge on the Bathinda-Barnala highway have been lying defunct for the past many days as a result of which commuters are inconvenienced.

Vehicles moving on the bridge can be spotted negotiating their way through the pitch dark overbridge. A majority of the drivers prefer to lower the speed to prevent accident.

Commuters rued that the Bathinda-Barnala highway is one of the busiest roads and defunct street lights here was a direct invitation to accidents or even a bigger tragedy.

The authorities concerned must ensure that defunct street lights on the overbridge are repaired right after they go defunct, they said.

Harshraj Singh, one of the frequent travellers on the highway, said, “With defunct street lights, driving on the overbridge has become a risky affair. Despite driving on the highway, I prefer to lower the speed to below 40 kmph to avoid accident. It is really difficult to spot the vehicles coming from the other side. This issue needs to be addressed on priority, but it seems that the authorities concerned are indifferent. Perhaps they are waiting for some tragedy to happen, before they could take necessary corrective action.”

Another commuter said the street lights on the overbridge had been lying defunct for the past many days but the authorities concerned, instead of repairing them, have turned a blind eye to the menace for the reasons best known to them.

A shopkeeper near Rose Garden said, “We have seen minor accidents happening on the bridge and sometimes there is a narrow escape, especially for vehicles driven on a high speed. The authorities must repair these lights as soon as possible so that lives of hundreds of commuters passing through the overbridge are not at risk.”

However, PWD SDO Teg Bansh Sidhu claimed that the street lights on the overbridge had started functioning from Monday evening.