Darkness reigning in several colonies

Hyderabad: Lack of proper illumination on roads is causing accidents on roads. This is making the conditions worse for women and elderly who are hesitating to step out of their houses during evening or night. Some of the lights in the street glow but intermittently.

The GHMC has been replacing dysfunctional streetlights with LED lights, which lessen burden of power bill on the corporation. But it seems to be fully occupied only with replacing streetlights with LEDs, ignoring the issue of defunct lights.

Residents, especially commuters from different areas like Kapra, Nacharam, Habsiguda, Uppal, Nagole and other areas, face hardships due to the poor lighting in the internal lanes of many colonies in these areas.

Speaking to The Hans India, Hari Krishna, Executive Engineer, GHMC, said, "On a daily basis we receive more than 300 complaints on streetlights. As per requirements, we are trying to replace the dysfunctional streetlights with the LED lights. Any streetlight which is observed dysfunctional, we request citizens to bring the issue to our notice. We will try to resolve the issues as soon as possible."

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has replaced more than 71,000 i.e., 40% of traditional streetlights with the LED lights. However, many of the other streetlights in areas such as those mentioned here have not been functioning properly. The streetlights in some areas are either do not work or work during the daytime.

Shobha J, a resident of Kapra said that though there are streetlights in the area, they are not adequate. She added, "The streetlights of the roads near Sri Chaitanya Jr Kalasala don't work properly. If you are passing through this area in a car, it is fine. But walking through the area is not advisable especially during the evening or night time."

Dysfunctional streetlights also put women and old people at risk. A well-lit street would instill confidence in them to move about freely and alone, too. They urged that the officials conduct a tour of the streets to keep the streets illuminated all through the night.

"The condition of street lights in my area i.e., Satyanarayanapuram Colony in Uppal has been the same for the past few months. This has become a source of huge risk to motorists and commuters while passing from these areas during evening and night," says G Naveen, a resident of Uppal. Syed Khalid, a resident of Nacharam said, "For the past two days, the lights from Habsiguda X Road till NTR Studio in Nacharam have not been working properly."

'LED bulbs coming'

Hari Krishna admits: "Yes, there are gaps which we are aware of and are trying to fix. The long-term solution is using LED bulbs on the entire streetlight network. This will ensure uniform light quality throughout the city. With the new model, we hope to make some savings as well as overcome the present problems." The bill that the GHMC has to pay has shrunk from Rs 4 crore to Rs 2.5 crore, after fixing LED lights in about 40% of the city, he added.