Complaints pour in

Vijayawada: People are put to untold hardships across the city as maintenance of streetlights is poor. They blame the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) for failure to act tough against the private company that looks after maintenance of street lighting.

While streetlights need replacement at some places, they illuminate during the day at some other places. Residents of some colonies have been troubled by anti-social elements and stray dogs during the night as darkness prevails.

V Mahesh, a resident of Frizerpet, complains that the VMC authorities have been neglecting the street lighting. "The problem of streetlights' failure continue to exist even for a few weeks. Those who are supposed to attend to the complaints have been visiting the place after a long time," he lamented.

The non-functioning of LED lights persisted as corporation was not attending to the complaints. It has to alert the Energy Efficiency Service Limited (EESL) which has been authorised as it signed a pact with the former two years ago. The agreement is valid for seven years. One of the main conditions is that the private company should ensure that the bills of street lighting should not exceed 50 per cent of the billing of the conventional billing. If the EESL failed to show 50 per cent savings, it will be penalised.

The main features of the agreement include three per cent project management charges and four per cent annual maintenance cost. The corporation paid electricity bills to the tune of Rs 4.17 crore from March 2016 to January 2017. It need to pay Rs 2.29 crore till July 2017.

M Sundar, a resident of New Rajarajeswaripet, alleged that there seems to be no proper communication between the corporation and the private firm. "Some lamps in the colony failed long ago. It has become a big problem for women as they pass through these localities.”

By Noor Shaik