BENGALURU: After civic authorities failed to address repeated requests from residents to fix dysfunctional streetlights, Changemakers of Kanakapura Road Federation and Zymus Hospital took matters into their own hands to install lights in parks of Balaji Layout of Vajrahalli.
For four long years, the park was plunged into darkness due to dysfunctional lights. With a majority of streetlights hidden by large trees, the area around the park emerged as extremely dangerous and unsafe to even walk, residents complain.
The solar lights installed in 2015 stopped working in 2019. Since then, they were not replaced in spite of multiple requests to BBMP. Residents complained that the civic authorities turned a blind eye to their needs.
Residents told TNIE that after sunset, life near the park came to halt because of poor lighting. “After 6pm, residents were hesitant to walk through the park. As there are large trees, there is a possibility of being bitten by insects and snakes. Residents were afraid to allow their children play here,” said Praveen, a resident.
This park is the only one which provides ample space for residents to walk and children to play. There are two more parks in the vicinity, but both have not served any purpose, said Vajapeyam Srivastava, secretary of Changemakers of Kanakapura Road Federation.
This issue was finally resolved when the Kanakapura federation and Zymus Hospital came together. The hospital authorities visited the area and installed eight 100W LED lights, shortly after which BBMP also gave a helping hand to the residents and did the groundwork for installation of lights.