VISAKHAPATNAM: The city is all set to host the BRICS conference on urbanisation, beginning Wednesday. The Beach Road, major junctions and buildings have been decorated by spending crores of rupees on beautification. However, streetlights have not been functioning at many areas and giving motorists a tough time.
Though the issue was brought to the notice of the district heads a number of times, no action was taken. The city received around 95,000 LED lights after the LED street lightning project was taken up by the GVMC in association with the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) last year. Since the start of the project, many lights started to malfunction. It was learnt that around 10 to 15 per cent of streetlights have not been functioning.
GVMC sources say that it is because of technical snags. The streetlights in MVP Colony, Shivajipalem, Visalakshinagar, Sagarnagar, HB Colony, VIP Road, Town Kotha Road, Kancharapalem, China Waltair, Murali Nagar and many other areas have not been working for many days now.
Public have been fed up with the non-functioning of lights. Due to this, motorists face serious trouble in the nights.
“The streetlights have not been working for the last one week. Driving becomes very tough without proper lighting and to add to it is the dog menace. Many in the area have fallen down as bikes skid,” said Sashikanth Kumar, who resides in Nirman Park of Kotha Road.
In some areas, some streetlights do not function, but at some other areas streetlights in the whole stretch do not work. The EESL has a team who receives complaints about the LED lights and works on restoring them. Complaints are galore during the grievance cell. Some locals in the city also claim that even though they complain about the non-functioning of lights, no action follows.
The issue was taken up with the district collector and even to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on several occasions. GVMC SE (Electrical) P Anand Rao said that the team had been attending to the complaints on regular basis.