Festival of lights prompts MCD repairs

The decision, taken about a month ago, looks to repair as many lights as possible in time for Diwali.

According to Jagdish Mamgain, Chairman of the Works committee of the MCD, the target has been achieved. While a month back only 20 per cent of all public lights in MCD areas were working, the percentage had increased to nearly 80 per cent by Wednesday.

He said the action was taken after MCD received complaints of streetlights and lights in parks not working in many areas. “It was not a very hard task as some of the bulbs only needed to be replaced. There were also cases in which the lights were fixed in a few minutes as it involved joining two wires,” Mamgain said.

To improve the lighting, the MCD had held a meeting with BSES, NDPL and its own officials on October 19, where it requested the two power providers to give them a list of all the lights that were not working in their jurisdiction and to fix them. “They still have not given us the data but they have started fixing lights after we stopped paying.”

To guarantee maintenance in future, the civic agency, about ten days ago, formed a new policy, under which they will not pay 20 per cent of the fees to private agencies who put up lights and who are responsible for maintenance. The 20 per cent will be paid after five years, if the maintenance is found satisfactory.