50% of city's streetlights faulty; safety risks glaring

Time of India

4 days ago

Chennai: Nearly 50% of the city's 3 lakh streetlights were found to be faulty and dysfunctional. As a result, more than 250 roads suffer from everyday blackouts.
An estimated 1.47 lakh LED street lights, installed in 2013, have crossed their seven-year annual maintenance contract, and the GCC has not renewed its maintenance contracts with big firms like Philips, Crompton, Schreder, and Suriya.
Despite the contracts lapsing five years ago, the GCC did not do much to fix these lights.
Electrical department officials said the firms refused to continue maintenance, citing unviable costs of replacing worn-out spares, wiring, and rusted poles. "Setting up one LED light post costs about Rs 40,000 in interior streets. For them it is profitable only if they replace the lights. Hence, nobody participated in the AMC tenders," said an official, citing that the GCC has not floated tenders for end-to-end replacements.
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A TOI spot check found pitch-dark stretches and dimly lit roads in Anna Nagar, Velachery, T Nagar, and Madipakkam. In some areas, lights were tied to Tangedco poles as supporting structures had corroded or collapsed.
As a result, the GCC receives between 250 to 300 complaints a day just about street lights in its 1913 portal and Namma Chennai App. Among these, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar zone gets the highest complaints of 50 to 60 daily, followed by 37 in Tondiarpet.
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CPM councillor M Renuka said at least five roads in her wards get blacked out frequently. "It takes three days for the GCC to service the lights. Till then, they don't have any replacements, and roads remain dark. I have raised this issue with the divisional office, but the GCC hasn't allotted funds yet," she said. She added that four high mast lights are dim.
"Women and kids feel unsafe at night. This issue is persistent in all nearby wards too.
We want the GCC to fix these before they turn into a widespread danger," she said.
Ashok Nagar councillor B Yazhini said she gets complaints about dim-lit lights, and it takes two days for the GCC to fix them. "The GCC has to have spare lights," she said.
Officials also flagged glitches in the centralised light-monitoring system that delays switching on at dusk. "Every day, lights must be switched off by 6am and switched on by 6pm.
This centralised system doesn't work, and officials scramble in the field to get them running manually. The GCC has to renew the maintenance contract," said an electric assistant engineer from Anna Nagar zone.
According to a GCC gender lab study, 20% of women reported poor lighting in junctions, and 22% of women reported poor lighting in busy places of gathering like bus stands, auto stands, termini, and public toilets.
GCC commissioner J Kumaragurubaran said they are going for a centralised AMC for all three lakh street lights and were not relying on independent manufacturers. "About 40,000 street lights will be fixed in the first phase. The contractor will be monitored by key-performance indicators like brightness, pole strength, wiring, and light throw of 20 metres," he said.