During the midnight hours of 29 September 2024 (Sunday), GVMC Commissioner P Sampath Kumar led a surprise inspection of street lights across zones 3, 4, 5, and 8 in Visakhapatnam. Accompanied by engineering officers and representatives of the Bridge and Roof Agency, the commissioner aimed to assess the performance and maintenance of the city’s street lights after receiving numerous complaints from GVMC Council members regarding inadequate upkeep.
The inspection, held between 11:00 pm on Sunday and 2:00 am on Monday, found that there were several areas where the maintenance of street lights was subpar. Sampath Kumar expressed dissatisfaction with the agency’s management, stating that street lights are critical public infrastructure and should be properly maintained.
In response, the commissioner issued immediate orders for corrective action. He instructed the engineering officers and the street lighting management agency to address non-functional street lights within 15 days, install new lights within 30 days, and ensure the completion of all repairs with brighter lights within 45 days. Furthermore, he directed the team to review the status of street lights every alternate day and take special measures to enhance their performance.
Streetlight maintenance has been a recurring issue for Visakhapatnam, with the topic once again dominating the recent GVMC Council meeting held just a few days ago. Many corporators expressed frustration over the delay in addressing long-pending streetlight issues, which have persisted for the last three years. These include defunct streetlights, lack of repair staff, and poor illumination.
The GVMC is responsible for maintaining 1.18 lakh streetlights across the city, connected to nearly 6,000 Centralized Control and Monitoring System (CCMS) boxes. Maintenance duties have been outsourced to a private agency, which, as per the agreement, is required to monitor streetlights via a dashboard and repair faulty ones promptly. However, the agency has failed to meet these obligations, triggering complaints from corporators and the public.
In the council meeting, the GVMC Commissioner acknowledged the issue and stated, “We have served a notice to the private company responsible. If the services do not improve, we will issue another.” He requested a months’ time to address the defunct street lights in Visakhapatnam.
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