Chandigarh MC admits poor upkeep of street lights in City Beautiful

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, November 2

Taking note of the “poor management of street lighting service”, the Municipal Corporation Chief Engineer has sought a report from the electricity wing of the civic body on the overall performance of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a public sector undertaking (PSU), allotted the work.

The Chief Engineer, in an official note, asked the Superintending Engineer (Electricity) to get the whole issue examined and put up a report on the overall performance of the EESL as per the agreement with the firm.

While residents have been complaining about non-functional street lights and poor complaint redressal system, the MC has now taken note of the issue.

“Rather than expressing concern over the matter, they should have penalised the firm for not resolving the defunct street light issue in the stipulated time period,” remarked a resident.

Repeated complaints about non-functional street/park lights on the Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) application have been falling on deaf ears. Even toll free number had not been of much help, rued residents.

In February 2017, the MC had signed a Rs 48-crore contract with the EESL for replacement of 48,000 ordinary street lights with LEDs, which has already been completed, and maintaining these for seven years.

Following complaints, this correspondent checked the non-functional lights redressal system. A complaint filed about a non-functional street light in Sector 22 on the application on October 9 with a complaint number 091344 has not been resolved till now. Earlier, a complaint about another non-functional street in a neighbourhood park was not resolved for two months, but it was mentioned on the app that the complaint had been resolved.

“It has been several years that the MC has failed to improve the street light complaint redressal system. Miscreants such as chain snatchers take advantage of darkness to target people. Darkness on roads also lead to accidents,” said a Mahender Singh, a resident of Sector 53.

“There is a need for constant and regular check on firms to ensure they perform as per the contract. The MC does not take action against the firm for non-performance or officials who are supposed to monitor these companies. On the other hand, public continues to suffer,” said RK Garg, president of Second Innings Association, a senior citizens’ body.