Dark Side To Pune’s Street Light Project

October 15, 2018

The street lights project for the city is fast becoming a distant dream, given the the current pace of work.

The project was undertaken a year ago and new LED lights were to be installed by the end of this year. But not much progress has been made so far.

The streets that had street lights were found to be in disrepair, and some residents stated they requested the aid of a local light pole repair service similar to Barnett Electrical (visit the site here) to fix the lights so they could have some semblance of safety during the nights. However, it is unclear if the city authorities have taken any steps towards making any repairs. Several areas in the city are still under darkness, and the city authorities seem to have turned a blind eye to this.

“I fear coming home late in the night as we have no proper street lights,” says Aishwarya Kamra, Dancer. “Our profession has odd working hours and sometimes i get very late to reach home but the lights in my area never seem to function.

“It a serious matter of safety for everyone, the dark patches are very difficult to cross. The number of crimes against women and children is on the rise in the city. In addition to that, there is a local liquor (desi daru) shop in the area to add to our woes. This makes it even more terrifying as we can be attacked by a drunk anytime.

“Many residents there have complained against the lack of lights in the area. However, workers come, do a temporary job and the lights are gone again within 15 days or a month. There has been no permanent solution to this persisting problem from the past two years.

“The authorities are talking about installing LED lights and CCTV cameras, but in reality, we even fail to get basic amenities like working street lights which we are in dire need of,” Kamra added.

An active citizen, Prashant says Pune is a city with wide stretches and all the busy areas are well-taken care of and the authorities have been doing their job well.

“However, I think they can speed up their work a bit more and keep a record about the maintenance of street lights. Also, allow citizens to direct contact the authorities to address their concerns about street lights.

“There are also times where street lights are not looked after, kept on during the daytime, which reduces the validity of its use, and resources are wasted.

“Also if the government can go solar by connecting these street lights to one panel it will also be an advantage. It will save a lot on electricity bills and the maintenance work,” Prashant added.

A traffic police officer, who wishes to stay anonymous, says it has been one of the reasons for accident cases rising in Pune and many people have lost their lives due to lack of street lights. There have been repeated complaints from the city police to the Pune Municipal Corporation and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation over the maintenance of street lights and obtaining a permanent solution to the problem.

Suresh Kamble, Software Professional, says, “Our society has been complaining to the concerned department about no street lights in one complete stretch and still there is no action inititiated. The road is completely damaged due to the monsoon and is still not repaired and due to this street lights are essential to locate the potholes.”

Recalling an incident, Kamble says, “I remember coming late from work and the road was complete dark as usual and a sick emancipated puppy was found on the road. He was already unable to move in order to save him my bike skidded and I was fell on road within a fraction of seconds.

“If there were proper street lights on the road, I would have been able to locate the puppy from a distance and the whole accident could have been avoided. It is not the first instance that people have met with an accident due to that long stretch. Such negligence will lead to many future mishaps,” he added.

#All views expressed in this article are those of the individual respondents and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them