MCB switches of streetlights stolen, MP moots patrolling, CCTV cameras

Miscreants have stolen Miniature Circuit Breakers (MCB) switches of newly installed LED streetlights on the Ring Road, near Sathagalli in Mysuru, recently. They have also cut the power connections, pushing the stretches of the road into darkness, again.

It has to be recalled that 50 per cent of the LED streetlights on the Ring Road, from Nanjangud junction to Manipal Hospital junction, were switched on, on December 1 evening. Works on laying underground cables, to fix LED streetlights for a stretch of 82 km, out of a total of 86 km, on the 43 km Ring Road is completed. Out of a total of 4,600 lights, 3,900 have been fixed. The rest of the works are expected to be completed in phases by December 10.

On Saturday, MP Pratap Simha shared photos of the streetlights and the panels on the lamp posts, where MCB switches are missing, on his Facebook wall. “Miscreants have stolen the MCB switches & cut the power supply to the poles near Sathagalli, Mys ring road. We are starting night patrolling from tonight n install CCTV cameras soon,” his post reads.

He has stated that night patrolling will begin on Saturday night itself and CCTV cameras will be installed soon, to detect and penalise the miscreants. He has also recalled that he facilitated a donation of Rs 5 lakh from Indian Bank for installing CCTV cameras.

The project of installing LED streetlights on the Ring Road is taken up at a cost of Rs 12 crore, funded by Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and implemented by Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) with National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC).

Dr K S Anil Kumar, a native of Chamarajanagar, residing in Bengaluru, has given a suggestion, as a comment to Simha’s post: “It's better to keep the wiring and MCB circuits at middle height of the pole. As anyone can see, it was placed at such a height that even a person with normal height of 5 to 5.4 feet can remove the wiring and circuit connections.”