BENGALURU: Vasanth Nagar residents have been struggling with non-functioning streetlights for a long time. They had complained about the soaring crime rate in the area to the officials concerned and police umpteen times, but in vain.
What galvanised the residents was the recent theft of a pair of shoes worth Rs 15,000 right from outside a house. Even though a police complaint was lodged, there was little success. The residents then realised that the spate of crimes in their area was because of non-functioning street lights and dark spots. "So, we decided to conduct a survey of streetlights," said Ajay Tandon, member of Citizens for Citizens (C4C) and resident of Vasanth Nagar.
The surveyors found that 25 new streetlights and two poles needs to be erected and 65 lights are not working. The residents studied the location of the poles, the angle of the lights, type of light bulbs, whether working or not, whether hidden by tree branches and even if bulbs were missing. The surveyors divided the ward into four zones which also comprises Palace Road, Cunningham Road, Railway Line Road and Millers Road. The residents shared the findings with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which now wants to replicate it in other areas. Residents of other localities like Chakravarthy Layout, Kumara Park and Sadashivanagar have also shown interest to conduct such a survey.Following the survey, BBMP engineer Sandeep Singh visited the area on July 11 and assured the residents of acting on it immediately.