Half of streets in Mahadevapura, 23% in Malleswaram not well-lit: Report

The safety of public spaces in Malleswaram and Mahadevapura assembly constituencies has scope for improvement with better streetlights and bus stops, an audit report has revealed.

The audit report, released on Saturday by the Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC), showed 23 per cent of the audited streets and public places in Malleswaram and 50 per cent in Mahadevapura must be well lit to ensure safety.

Taking part in the panel discussion on the report’s key findings, BBMP Special Commissioner (West) Dr Deepak R L vowed that the civic body will ensure budgetary allocation to install new streetlights and to repair old ones.

"There was confusion if the installation of streetlights had to be a centralised tender or a decentralised one, which caused a delay in the implementation of the project. However, now we have decentralised the process and a budgetary allocation will be made,” he said.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Dr B R Ravikanthe Gowda felt better lighting will ensure safety and prevent accidents. "We are passing on to the BBMP the geo-tagged information on the lack of streetlights in various areas. Better lighting will help reduce crime rates.”

The report also said the city’s bus stops can be enhanced with a Passenger Information System and route maps. "Many women passengers travelling late in the evening are not sure if the bus will arrive,” pointed out Pooja Patel, a member of the survey team.

Noting that the BMTC is working on projects to ensure women’s safety under the Nirbhaya scheme, the corporation’s Director for Security and Vigilance Radhika G said they are working on pooling in the data and live-tracking buses.

“CCTV cameras, GPS systems, and panic buttons have been installed in 50 city buses on a pilot basis. Once we have all the data, the Passenger Information System will be implemented,” she said.

The audit, taken up by B.PAC in association with CGI, inspected 260 public spaces with the help of 45 volunteers over 18 months.

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