Complaints over defunct street lights on rise in city

JALANDHAR: Complaints over non-functional street lights in the city have increased manifolds. Every day, operators at the Municipal Corporation (MC) grievance cell receive over 100 complaints in this regard. The reason behind the same is not the lack of manpower, but dearth of resources and contractors, who are not paid on time.

The MC is spending around Rs 22 crore every year on street lights, including maintenance and purchase of electrical items, in Jalandhar. file photo

Ajay Joshi
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, October 13

Complaints over non-functional street lights in the city have increased manifolds. Every day, operators at the Municipal Corporation (MC) grievance cell receive over 100 complaints in this regard. The reason behind the same is not the lack of manpower, but dearth of resources and contractors, who are not paid on time.

The MC does not have regular contractors to either install new lights or repair the defunct street lights. Residents are at the receiving end as despite having lodged complaints, the issue has not been addressed.

The MC grievance cell has received 639 complaints this month, and before October, around 2,372 complaints were received in four months. Most of the complaints have been lying unaddressed despite the fact that the minimum time to address the same is only two days. The complaints are mostly received from residents at Gurunanak Pura East, Model Town, Bashirpura, Pathankot Bypass road and other crowded areas.

Manvinder Singh, a resident of the Chaugitti road area, said, many street lights in the area had been lying defunct for the past many days but nothing has been done in this regard by the authorities concerned.

While accusing the civic authorities of neglecting the maintenance of the street lights, the majority of the city residents have urged officials to streamline the mechanism to ensure their proper maintenance.

Vijay Kumar, a resident of Sodal, said, “It is surprising that nobody in the Municipal Corporation is bothered about the non-functional street lights. Since winters have approached, residents, especially, the elderly of the area, face inconvenience during the night in the absence of lights.”

Residents said they feared going out and usually preferred to stay at home after dark due to the presence of stray dogs.

The MC is spending around Rs 22 crore every year on the street lights, including maintenance and purchase of electrical items, in the city. Despite this, a large number of complaints of non-functional streetlights have been received by the MC office.

Meanwhile, Lakhwinder Singh, Superintending Engineer (O &M), said in the absence of regular contractors, a smooth process could not be ensured. He said the MC would soon issue new tenders for the street lights. Hence, the issue would be resolved once the new contractors were appointed.

Over 100 complaints a day

Every day, operators at the MC grievance cell receive over 100 complaints regarding defunct street lights. The reason behind the same is not the lack of manpower, but dearth of resources and contractors, who are not paid on time.