Dark streets, a common sight

Drive through the city at night and a common sight is poorly working streetlights. It being the rainy season has, as usual, exacerbated their maintenance. Despite spending Rs 185 crore annually on upkeep, about 40 per cent in arterial roads and 60 per cent of streetlights in residential areas are dysfunctional under the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits.

While about 1.80 lakh big and small streetlights were removed on all metro corridor roads in order to take up the Metro Rail project; streetlights in the said areas are said to be under repair.

There are about 4, 13,029 streetlights in the Corporation’s limits, which includes 2, 07,793 High Pressure Sodium Vapour (HPSV) lights of 150w. Other types include 250w HPSV (73,215), 70w HPSV (47,520); 40w tubes (16,475), 120w LEDs (254) and 250w Induction.

According to official data, the annual expenditure by the Corporation includes Rs 125 crore towards power charges, Rs 10 crore towards salaries, Rs 15 crore for purchasing materials and Rs 35 crore for minor repairs.

Visibility problems
The visibility problems faced by motorists and pedestrians doubled due to the issue and its occurrence during the monsoon. Several streetlights in areas including Tarnaka, Bagh Lingampally, Himayathnagar, Gandhinagar, Nagole, LB Nagar, Ramnagar, Dilsukhnagar, Kukatpally, Bollaram and others have not been functioning.

Sharing his experience, S Kiran Babu, a resident of Nagarjuna Nagar said, “There are about five streetlights in our street. For several months only one is working.”

He said that due to poor visibility many non-fatal accidents took place in the area. “There were other incidents when vehicles, particularly two wheelers, passing that way hit stray dogs and even pedestrians due to poor visibility,” he said.
Safety is also an issue as crime rates escalate in the dark. Kiran Babu informed that even after lodging several complaints with the civic body, the officials had not responded.

A major problem arises for people who travel. Commuters in metro corridors complain that it has become a tough task to move on severely damaged roads, especially the ones which are without streetlights.

T Sudheer, 30-year-old electrical engineer, said, "I commute from my house in Kothapet to my office in Kukatpally.

Returning in the evening has become a nightmare for me as there are only a few streetlights in Kukatpally, Balanagar, Bowenpally, JBS, Sangeet, Mettuguda, Tarnaka, Habsiguda, Uppal, Nagole and Kothapet stretch."
He said that he had been a victim of a few minor accidents due to poor visibility.