Street lights on new airport road still not functioning as complaints fall on deaf ears

Pune: The street lights along half of the new airport road have not been functioning since the conclusion of the G20 Summit on January 17, causing a lot of inconvenience to pedestrians, two-wheeler riders, and four-wheeler drivers. Nearly 10 to 12 street lights along the entire stretch to the left of Aero Mall are not working. When a Hindustan Times reporter visited the area Thursday night, pedestrians were seen walking along the stretch with great difficulty.

“Already there is no footpath and two people cannot walk together on the stretch and many cabs are stationed on the same road. Many a time, we have to deal with eve-teasers. It becomes very difficult to walk on this stretch. Even after complaining, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has not repaired the street lights,” said Sayali Acharya, an air hostess who stays at Lohegaon and walks to Pune International Airport every day.

Rohit Meshram, another resident from Lohegaon, said, “Even before two months, these street lights were not functioning for a week. There was some cable problem and once again, there are problems with the cables as a lot of digging work has taken place to level the land near the new airport road. The PMC should repair it immediately as two-wheeler riders are also facing problems.”

Several taxi drivers prefer to park their taxis along the stretch instead of in the multi-level parking building (MLCP). “It is so dark that we have to keep the indicators on continuously to avoid any accidents. Many solo flyers prefer to walk with their trolley bags in the dark and it is not safe. We stand to pick up passengers easily instead of parking our vehicles in the MLCP,” said taxi driver Santosh Sawaalkahe.

Shrinivas Kandul, chief engineer, electrical department, PMC did not respond to calls or messages. One of the junior officers from PMC’s electrical department on condition of anonymity said, “The repair work was carried out before the G20 Summit and all the street lights were in working condition. We will find out what the problem is and will repair it soon.”

Whereas civil activist Qaneez Sukhrani said, “The PMC never carries out timely maintenance work due to which common people suffer. The stretch remains very dark at night and the PMC should repair the street lights on an immediate basis.”