Civic bodies finally act to give you better-lit streets

GURGAON: After a sustained campaign against unlit roads in the city, a spot inspection by TOI has found that new streetlights have been installed in several dark, but busy stretches. However, many areas, including the Golf Course Road and patches on the MG Road, still demand attention.
Over the past six months, TOI and a citizen's group - Gurgaon Action Plan - have carried out a series of surveys of most major stretches across the city and reported how busy roads by the day turn into security lapses at night because of a lack of streetlight infrastructure.The police department had also raised concerns last August regarding the HUDA and MCG's lax approach in the upkeep of the lighting infrastructure in the city.
While multiplicity of agencies played havoc on the civic and infrastructural development of the city, transfer of officials, who had promised to get streetlights functional within 20 days last year, did not make the task at hand any easier.
However, following consistent reminders, HUDA and MCG officials have streamlined the way they manage the streetlight infrastructure in the city. "We pulled up our contractors taking care of maintenance of lights and carried out our own surveys following media reports. We have now streamlined our grievance system too in such a way that complaints pertaining to streetlights of a particular area will be routed to the contractor directly from our call center, and we have a monthly review of this. I can vouch that as compared to before, at least 70% areas are better lit," claimed Arun Dhankar, HUDA's executive engineer (electrical).
Though the city is still far from being 100% lit, there is a leap of improvement in most areas. Officials in the HUDA, over the past two months, have set up much needed high-mast lights between HUDA City Center and Fortis Hospital and at Sector 31 market, both of which were in the dark for several months.
Similarly, the stretch between Medanta and Bakhtawar Singh Chowk, and the dividing road between sectors 30 and 31 have got about 40 new light fixtures up and running.
Dhankar said that HUDA has spent Rs 40 lakh on the new streetlights and about Rs 10 lakh for high masts, which have been installed after upgrading and ensuring repairs of many existing lines.
Despite the marked improvement, there are still a few roads that remain in the dark, and have been noted by officials too. These include the Golf Course Road, Golf Course Extension Road, the stretch near Signature Tower, near Tau Devi Lal stadium, a main road from Sector 22 to Columbia Asia Hospital, and a few sections on MG Road, which are still pitch dark. Accepting that much more needs to be done, HUDA administrator Anita Yadav said, "Since I have taken charge, I have followed up with my officials on the status of street lights. There is an improvement, but certain stretches where construction work is in progress still need attention. We are working on at least temporary solutions to tend to these."
The MCG has also followed suit where now the joint commissioners themselves carry out inspections of their respective zones. MCG's chief engineer R K Singhla said, "Poor lighting in MCG areas was one of the most pressing issues brought to my notice when I joined.
Earlier we used to get 8 to 10 complaints a day. But now it has come down to a complaint a week."
MCG's executive engineer (electrical) Rao Bhopal Singh said, "We have numbered and mapped streetlights in MCG limits for easy identification of faults and repairs. We hardly have any pendency left and are now able to concentrate on areas where new infrastructure is needed, or stretches that have been ignored."
He said that about Rs 3 crore has been spent on procuring about 300 new poles for lights between Mahavir Chowk and Maharana Pratap Chowk, Signature Tower and Dundahera, apart from putting up 180 more street lights on Sohna Road till MCG limits. However, TOI has observed that certain MCG areas like in Shivaji Nagar and the stretch between Signature Tower and MDI Chowk still have zero percent visibility.