Steet light now after garbage
Next to garbage, poor maintenance of street lights across the city evoked strong protests from councillors at the Coimbatore Corporation’s Council meeting on Monday.The members accused contractors in charge of maintenance of not doing their job. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) member and Corporation West Zone Chairman V.P. Selvaraj was the first among the many upset councillors to highlight the problem. “At least 25 per cent of the lights are not functioning in all the 18 wards under my zone,” he told Mayor R. Venkatachalam.P. Dhanraj of the DMK said close to 150 lights did not function at all in his Ward 10. “Stray dogs and snakes pose a great amount of risk to the people in these areas. No one dares walk the streets at night,” he said.Responding to this, the Mayor asked the officials to keep a close watch on the maintenance of the lights. “There is no point in blaming the contractors alone,” he said, drawing a comment from All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member M. Natarajan that the Mayor should not defend errant contractors. Mr. Venkatachalam clarified that he was not trying to protect them. But, the officials should assess the situation in all the 72 wards and set right the problems. Leader of the Communist Party of India in the Council, K. Purushothaman, said 49 lights did not function from the Thadagam Road junction to Avila Convent and also from the junction to the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.
“When I enquired with the contractors, they said the Corporation owed them huge arrears,” he said. The Mayor said the civic body owed no dues to any contractor in charge of the maintenance of street lights.With some other councillors also making complaints of poor maintenance, the Mayor directed the officials to take remedial measures immediately and on a large scale across the city so that this issue was not raised at the next council meeting.
