Dark spots to be lit up soon

CHANDIGARH: Dark spots in Chandigarh will soon be lit up as a joint venture company of PSUs of the Union power ministry will kick off the tender process and allot work of the streetlight project by August end.
In a survey assigned by MC, the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) had found 10,000 dark spots across the city.
The company is also going to kick off the work to install 6,700 lights at various parks and green belts of the city.
The development has come following a meeting of senior officers of the Chandigarh municipal corporation with the representatives of the company.
During the meeting that took place last week, the EESL representatives assured the MC officials that most of the works would be completed by 2019.
“The project to cover all 10,000 dark spots will cost Rs 26 crore. The amount also includes maintenance cost. Since the company has assured us to allot the work by the end of August, we hope that all the dark spots will be lit up by March 31, 2019,” said sources in the MC.
Significantly, the topic of dark spots had remained one of the major issues in the MC and most of the councilors wanted EESL to first resolve the issue, instead of installing new LED streetlights in the city. But the company first installed new lights and the work of covering the dark spots was kept for the second phase.
During the survey, the dark spots were found in posh areas, colonies, villages, commercial areas and institutional areas. It was found that besides repairing the existing streetlights, there was a dire need to install new streetlights to illuminate the entire city.
“Due to lack of streetlights, most of these areas were considered safe haven for criminals. Chandigarh police had also taken up the issue a number of time during meetings with MC officials. Police had claimed that crime cases were reported on a regular basis in areas which did not have functional streetlights. Moreover, residents have also demanded installation of streetlights at such points,” sources revealed.