Raipur: The capital is in darkness. Street lights are off in the city streets. Fused lights are not being replaced. o meaning. This is the situation when the festive season has started. Every street in the city should ideally be illuminated, but they are shrouded in darkness. The public is worried about this, the councilors are also worried.
Complaints from every ward are reaching municipal headquarters through councilors. Corporation's complaint number diagnosis 1100 also has the highest number of complaints of street lights turning off after stray cattle. Despite this, the corporation is not able to overcome this problem. That is because the entire system is on contract. Investigation revealed that three years ago, the then government gave the ESL company a work order to replace LED bulbs in 55 thousand pillars of the city and replace them with LED lights. The company acted as if the whole project was only there for three years. There is no maintenance work being done.
Electricity Department chairman Jasbir Singh Dhillon discussed this with the officers recently . The officers said- 'notice has been given.' Let the company know that in these three years more than two dozen notices have been issued, but the system remains the same. The project is worth Rs 46 crore, the corporation has as of now banned the payment. But the whole project is under question.
Opposition of the project has been happening since the beginning - instead of bulb, LED light project came during the tenure of BJP government. . This project was opposed in the General Assembly. The offer was dropped but the tender from Ministry to replace the city's bulbs was issued.
But 3 MIC members - electricity board chairman Jasbir Dhillon, Satnam Singh Panag and Srikumar Menon formed three-member committee. The committee also wrote that it is not appropriate to award the contract to the outside company. Despite this, the work order was issued.
When the company started installing LED lights, only 18 watt bulbs were installed. Their light was less. There was a protest. After this, it was decided to install 35, 70 and 110 watt LEDs.
Corporation officials say that the company does not have enough employees. Those who are the employees do not know anything about the city. There are only two supervisors for the entire city.
55 thousand pillars are there where bulbs are replaced but all of the LED's have fused. The company somehow completed the work but the company is also responsible for the maintenance of the next five years, which it has given to a petty contractor. They have neither employees nor resources. This is the reason that maintenance is not happening.
