By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, July 2: This is no shot in the dark. Guwahati Mayor’s response to a question from The Sentinel on the current state of affairs of streetlights in Guwahati does not tally the ground situation.
Most of the main roads and by-lanes in Guwahati are dark as the streetlights fitted there do not glow. This has compounded the mece of crimes in the city. That crime rate has been on the rise in the city has been corroborated time and again by statistics from the police. Dark streets are turally safe havens for crimils. This is not all. It kills the beauty of night, besides laying bare negligence on the part of the departments concerned, let alone the problems being faced by people who have to grope in the dark. As if to cap it all, there is frequent load-shedding in the city. Of late the Power Department has adopted a policy of power cut so as to avoid electrocution when it rains. This shows how fragile the power lines are.
The roads and places in the city that mostly remain dark are RG Baruah Road, GS Road, Mother Teresa Road (VIP Road), Maniram Dewan Road, GNB Road, Dispur, Chenikuthi, Uzan Bazar, Maligaon, Noonmati, Bhetapara, Adabari etc. Most of the streetlights fitted in these roads are not glowing.
In 2014 the State Government released Rs 25 crore for the repair of streetlights and installation of streetlights. The amount has been spent, but now the situation is back to square one. Most of the streetlights on the roads and places mentioned above do not glow.
However, for Guwahati Mayor Mrigen Sarania it is a bitter pill to swallow. He is not ready to accept this. He says that only a few areas or streets in the city are dark, and the rest are not. When asked on this issue, he said: “We do repair streetlights instantly. We’ve four vehicles at our disposal to attend to such problems. The vehicles remain busy. When the vehicles are busy, we can’t attend to other areas.”
When asked on the Rs 25 crore released by the government for the repair and installation of streetlights, Sarania said: “The amount has been spent. The amount was not exclusively for streetlights. It was also meant for other schemes as well. We’ve now released Rs 20 lakh for the repair of streetlights. This year the GMC Budget has been fixed at Rs 30 crore. We hope the GDD will release the amount.” When asked if the GMC has any power bill dues, Sarania said: “The State Government has paid Rs 12 core to the APCDL on GMC’s behalf. The remaining amount will also be paid.”