Faulty streetlights aplenty

Many stretches across the city have broken or no streetlights

With the sun setting earlier, well-lit streets become even more important. But across the city, there are pockets with faulty street lights and sometimes none at all.

An online consumer complaint forum has received five complaints regarding faulty lights in the past month, from across the city.

A BBMP spokesperson said that they receive such complaints frequently but the majority of the problems are due to power fluctuation.

“These things are not in our control but we try to respond to them as soon as we can,” he says.

When asked about areas with no streetlights at all, he says that most of these areas are in the outskirts and there are plans to rectify the issues. He did not give a timeline for the same.

Radhika, a resident of Langford Town, says that the stretch of Hosur Road that falls in Richmond Town has no working street lights.

“I walk my dogs along that stretch and it gets very unsafe once the sun sets,” she says. She adds that this might be due to ongoing metro work in the area.

Metrolife checked the Bengaluru NavaNirmana Party citizens portal to check whether there were lighting-
related projects executed by BBMP this year.

A random search of over 10 wards shows that most such projects for this year are yet to be executed.

Most of the listed projects are for replacement of burnt bulbs, in a varied number of wards such as Shantala Nagar, Gurappana Palya and Rajarajeshwari Nagar.

Manoj, a resident of Balagere, says that the stretch of road to his apartment complex has no streetlights at all.

“It’s away from the city which means there are no lights from nearby shops either. The roads are not tarred either, which makes travelling to and fro quite difficult,” he explains.

Community groups like Whitefield Rising and multiple residents have brought attention to the condition of streetlights in Balagere and across the city on Twitter.

How to complain

Sahaya app by BBMP

The app is available only on Play Store but it can be accessed through the webpage, bbmp.sahaaya.in

It is rated 2.5 on the Play Store and has a large number of one-star reviews about the lack of resolutions to complaints raised on the app. Although few recent reviews also talk about the quick response from the BBMP. One such review was against a complaint raised about the faulty streetlights.

BBMP Control room

If the app route doesn’t work, BBMP spokesperson advises residents to contact their zonal control room or the central control room to register a complaint. The helpline can be contacted on 2222 1188