The onus of maintaining the street lights in Hyderabad lies with GHMC, which was outsourced to EESL. As the contract will lapse on April 30, GHMC has already written to the state government about it.
Hyderabad: Struggling with dimly-lit streets, or roads without any streetlighting it at all? Blame it on the Energy Efficiency Services Limited's (EESL) apathy towards fulfilling its contractual obligations to maintain the city's street lights as the contract nears its expiry on April 30.
Hyderabad has over 5.25 lakh street lights in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits, but several of them have been dysfunctional. Others provide poor illumination. And at other places, overgrown trees block any light from teaching the ground.
While there are several reasons for dysfunctional street lights such as glitches in the Centralised Control Monitoring System (CCMS), wiring issues, staff not attending complaints, the state government's delayed payment to EESL appears to be the prime factor which is affecting proper functioning of street lights.
Some main roads at Jubilee Hills check post, Basheerbagh, Kukatpally, Bachupally and Nizampet are poorly-lit. Even on flyovers such as ones at Begumpet and Narayanguda, street lights are not well lit.
Commuters using the poorly lit streets told Deccan Chronicle that poor visibility on roads has been one of the major challenges that they are facing while commuting and expressed their fear of meeting with an accident.
Employees, working in night shifts, drivers of heavy vehicles, cabs, autos are struggling in reaching their destinations because of improperly managed lighting system.
"On the Nizampet main road, street lights have not been working. People are using high beams, which further adds to commuting woes, especially for motorists like me," said R. Pritham, a techie.
Another IT employee, who goes to office by bike, said uneven road surface in bylanes compounds the problem of poorly-lit roads.
"In the bylanes that connect the Ameerpet main road, the height of manhole lids does not match with the road level, making bikers vulnerable to accidents," she said.
The onus of maintaining the street lights in Hyderabad lies with GHMC, which was outsourced to EESL. As the contract will lapse on April 30, GHMC has already written to the state government about it.
"Depending on the state government's decision, we will either invite new tenders or extend the contract of the existing company," said a GHMC official.
The official, however, said the civic body is prepared to handle any situation. "We have one electrician per ward, apart from engineers. If the new contract doesn't commence quickly, we are prepared to handle the situation," he added.
