Govt ‘breaks’ own order to install new lights

In a rush to override the decisions taken by the previous regime, the BJP government has drawn up a new action plan to instal streetlights in Bengaluru in violation of a government order.

The latest action plan under the chief minister's Nava Nagarothana grants allows the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to instal light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs in 13 areas falling under wards 26, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 81, 87 and 102.

Last year, the Congress-JD(S) coalition government had issued the work order to a company that was picked through global tendering. The company was to instal LED streetlights on all the 4.7 lakh electricity poles in the city under the Design, Finance, Build, Operate and Transfer (DFBOT) model and maintain them for 10 years. In effect, all incandescent bulbs were to be replaced with LED bulbs within 30 months. Until then, no new streetlights are to be installed, a BBMP official said.

But the installation of LED bulbs hasn't started even a year after the work order was issued. The government must initiate a probe into the matter, he added.

The move has drawn criticism from the Congress, with outgoing mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun leading the charge. She said that if the government went ahead with the action plan, it would be tantamount to violating the government order.

S R Vishwanath, the BJP legislator from Yelahanka who was part of the committee that revised the action plan, defended the installation of new streetlights. "Many streets are in the dark because the installation of LED bulbs as per the previous government order is not happening," he said. "We are not violating any rules with the new action plan."