No more highmast gifts, Thiruvananthapuram corporation tells MLAs, MPs

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The craze among MLAs and MPs to ‘gift’ highmast lamps to the city continues but the Corporation has declared that it would not accept any conventional highmast lamps anymore. Each highmast lamp incurs an electricity bill of around Rs 8,000 a month and the Corporation which pays the bill has been unhappy for years. With timers of some lamps becoming faulty, the light sometimes still glows in the morning incurring humongous bills.

“We will not accept highmast lamps which are not LED ones. So all people’s representative have to give us energy efficient ones,” said Mayor V.K. Prasanth. According to councillors, too many people’s representatives were competing to spend on highmast lamps that they gave proposals for lamps at the same location. For example, MP Suresh Gopi and MLA Kadakampally Surendran want highmast lamps at Powdikonam. But the Corporation council ensures that duplications are avoided.

Meanwhile, most of the old highmast lamps of the Corporation that were installed back in 2008 get damaged more frequently. In important locations like Thampanoor and Fort, only half the bulbs glow. “The automatic timers of many highmast lamps in my ward were damaged and it glowed from noon to 7pm. Political opponents have placed my photo with a wreath under it. Something has to be done with faulty ones to save energy. Highmast lamps are a very sensitive issue,” a councillor said.