BENGALURU: Greater Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda has set October 31 as the deadline to complete the installation and replacement of LED streetlights. He said the contractors responsible for failures in streetlight maintenance have so far been fined a total of Rs 93.67 lakh, including penalties imposed on the basis of complaints registered through the city’s Sahaaya 2.0 grievance-redressal system.
At a virtual review meeting on Friday, the minister directed officials to verify the quality and functioning of streetlights through on-ground inspections rather than relying solely on reports of completed work. Contractors must be penalised if lights are improperly installed or fail to function as required.
After suspending an Executive Engineer over dereliction of duty in September, the minister subsequently directed officials to address the deficiencies on priority and ensure that streetlight maintenance is monitored continuously.
While installation of LED streetlights and replacement of older lights have been completed in several localities following a series of reviews, Gowda said the progress was insufficient and directed officials to complete the remaining work by October 31.
He also instructed officials to replace sodium-vapour streetlights with LED lights in the Bengaluru East City Corporation jurisdiction. The focus, officials were told, must extend beyond installation to ensuring that the lights remain operational and that contractors are held accountable for maintenance failures.
He said that the intensified monitoring appears to be yielding results, with the number of streetlight-related complaints registered through Sahaaya 2.0 declining, with the average number of complaints received daily falling from 293 in June to 235 in October.
Between September 1 and October 15, a total of 8,186 streetlight-related complaints were registered, of which 6,765 had been resolved.