Bengaluru: The city Mayor’s recent penalization of a contractor after she found street lights missing during her night rounds has sent a strong message among the contractors and BBMP officials that nobody will be spared.
Mayor Gangambike had gone to inspect Hebbal, Ganganagar and surrounding areas and was shocked to see that streetlights were not functioning.
She immediately summoned the zonal officer concerned and told him to bring in the contractor in-charge of the maintenance. On the spot she ordered the officers to impose a fine of Rs 25,000 on the contractor and told him to fix the street lights at the earliest.
A senior BBMP officer said, “The Mayor has sent a strong message to all the contractors and officers and directed us to bring it to her notice when any contractor handling garbage, roads, street lights and others, was not performing their duties and she will take action. The Mayor has also directed to impose hefty penalties on the contractors for not performing their duty.”
LED lamps
The city has close to 5 lakh street lights and BBMP spends around Rs 200 crore every year as power tariff and maintenance expense. The existing street lights are currently being replaced with LED lamps, but the work is reportedly happening at a slow pace.
When asked about the LED light project, a senior officer said, “The work is happening but it needs to pick up pace and our aim is to have every sodium vapour lamp replaced with LED, as it consumes less power and will help reduce our expenses. We will discuss the issue with the Mayor and BBMP Commissioner and take necessary steps.”
Residents laud Mayor
Rukmini Rao, a resident of Sanjay Nagar, said,”It is a surprise that the Mayor has penalised the contractor and it is first of its kind. We hope that all the contractors buck up and promptly finish their work, which will solve half the issues. The Mayor should send a circular to all the contractors to be ready to face stringent action. The contractors who are negligent should be black listed.”
She further added that the street lights are important, as it helps the motorists and pedestrians to navigate through the road, failing which there would be accidents, robbery and all illegal activities taking place.
“Most of the times, the street lights are functioning during daytime, but switched off in the night and in other cases the street lights are not functional at all. The authorities concerned take ages to rectify it. All this needs to be resolved and the BBMP should remember that street lights are important for the public safety,” she mentioned.
