Thiruvananthapuram: Streetlights go out of order in 3 days

Thiruvananthapuram: The corporation’s efforts to ensure a well-lit Onam season for the capital city by replacing dysfunctional tube lights received a setback with several of the newly-installed ones failing to work. Councillors who have complained to the authorities about the short life of streetlights, are, however, not sure whether the problem lay with the quality of spare parts used or the contractors carrying out maintenance works.

The council which met before Onam had awarded a Rs 1.6 cr contract to supply streetlight spare parts to public sector United Electrical Industries Limited. Many councillors including Poonthura councillor Peter Solomon had expressed doubts about the quality of the parts the company supplied. Powdikonam councillor Narayanamangalam Rajendran, however, said the problem lay with the contractors and not with the parts.

“I conducted an inquiry in my ward and found that the parts had no problem,” he said. “The lights were not working because the bridging connections were loose. It could have been purposely made loose by the contractors.” Mayor V.K. Prasanth said most tube lights which were replaced were found to be working.

“We do not have a proper system to check the maintenance of tube lights,” he said. “There are just two overseers to take care of 82,000 lights in different sections. What is needed is a team led by an engineer dedicated to maintaining streetlights.” When asked about the allegations of the councillors regarding quality, United Electrical Industries Limited managing director S. R. Vinayakumar said the company would look into any complaint if the mayor raised them. “So far we have received no complaints,” he said.