Hudhud effect; One-third of Visakhapatnam city’s streetlights defunct

Visakhapatnam: Of the about 94,000 street lights in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation limits 33,083 are non-operational, most of them damaged by the cyclone Hudhud. Unfortu-nately, due to lack of enough manpower and equipment, it is going to take a really long time for all the streetlights to start functioning, at least a period of one month. A senior official from the GVMC said, “We have about 100 workers to undertake the operation of replacing damaged lights and a handful of hydraulic ladders for the purpose. However, workers will be brought in from other municipalities in the state for the purpose so that the work becomes fast paced.”
When asked when will complete restoration of streetlights can be expected, he said, “It will take at least a month. LED lights are being procured from the Energy Efficiency Services Limited for the purpose.”
With no streetlights, the city roads have become hazardous to drive. Vizagites are being forced to drive through city putting life at risk at night as most of the city roads are pothole ridden and some areas have cabling works going on forcing two-way traffic to drive on a single road. Adding to the confusion and making driving at night all the more risky on Vizag roads is that many motorists use their vehicle lights in full beam, making it difficult to see in the dark for those in the opposite direction. However, accidents are not on the rise, thanks to careful driving of Vizagites.
According to information from the police, just about a dozen cases of accidents have been reported in the past week with no incidents of death. Crime has also not seen any abnormal rise post-Hudhud. Just about six cases of chain snatching have been reported in the past one week, with most of them from the city outskirts.
Areas which do not come in the GVMC limits also took a very bad hit as 1,750 of the 2,950 streetlights are non-operational in Narsipatnam and the figure stands at 4,125 out of 13,925. Vizianagaram took the most hit after Vizag due to the cyclone and as a result, a massive 5,065 of the 10,973 streetlights have been destroyed. The figure stands at 1,870 in Srikakulam of the 13,154 streetlights.