The Tale of a Dark Smart City!

GUWAHATI: Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has utterly failed to glow streets, lanes and by-lanes of Guwahati. A reality check shows that over 16,250 of the over 25,000 streetlights in Guwahati do not glow. Is it not a sad reflection of a smart city?

One of the glaring outcomes of the situation is that pretty crimes like looting, burglary, snatching chains, theft in temples etc are going up.

The civic body makes a tall claim – GMC has been entrusted with the responsibility for providing streetlights in all lanes and by-lanes covering the entire smart city. This claim, however, is seriously out of sync with the ground reality in the metropolitan city.

GS Road and RG Baruah Road, the main arterial roads in Guwahati, give one a clear picture as to how many lights in city streets actually glow. If one takes the pain of visiting areas like Bamunimaidam, Noonmati, Modghoria, Hengrabari, Lalmati, Ulubari, Panjabari, Lokhara, Satgaon, Solapara, etc at night one has to go literally amidst darkness. The situation in lanes and by-lanes is even more pathetic.

The common people of the city say that the streets in Guwahati are dark at night. They, however, glow up all of a sudden as and when there are some government events, they say. Guwahati did wear a bright look with lights in its thoroughfares glowing with varieties of electrical decorations during the Namami Brahmaputra, Advantage Assam and the Guwahati International Film Festival, some of them said. The sand reflection on the part of the civic body is that that glow has vanished in no time.

The situation is fraught with accidents as many manholes are seen open in Guwahati streets. As though to cap it all, road repairing and drainage works are going on in such dark streets. Such areas remaining dark at night may make pedestrians to pay the price.

According a GMC official, of the over 25,000 streetlights in Guwahati 5,000 are LED lights and 20,000 are tube and CFL lights.

When asked on the streetlights not glowing in many areas in the city, the official said: “It’s true that our streets haven’t been glowing in many areas in the smart city. However, we don’t have the exact count of such defective lights. However, it’s a fact that our people repair such defective lights every day. They’re at work. We hope in the days ahead all defective streetlights will be repaired or replaced.”

Also Read: Guwahati City