As agencies fail them, Gurugram residents pool in money to install lights on the streets

With multiple agencies responsible for the installation and maintenance of streetlights failing to address their grievances, residents in several sectors of Gurugram have installed road lights out of their own pocket.

At present, the streetlights are managed by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram. However, before the civic body was created in 2008, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda), Haryana State Industry and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN).

Poor coordination among these agencies ensured there were plenty of dark stretches across the city.

The residents alleged that even the MCG has failed to improve the situation. Accusing the corporation of neglecting their area, locals in sectors 3, 4 and 5 said of the nearly 400 streetlights in their area, hardly 100 work.

When their complaints were allegedly not addressed, the residents pooled in money to install streetlights on their own.

“We installed 125 LEDs, worth Rs70,000, with our RWA funds,” Dinesh Vashisht, RWA president of Sectors 3, 5 and 6, said. Vashisht said they had been complaining to the MCG for the past five years but the civic body did not do anything about it.

SP Sharma, a resident of Sector 5, said, the area turns pitch dark after sundown, making it unsafe for the residents, specially women. He claimed that several cases of theft and snatching have been reported in the recent past which, he said, could have been avoided had the road been properly lit.

Police records show that eight cases of snatching, seven of molestation have been reported from near Sector 5 market this year.

Residents in several other areas such as Sector 108, 10, 10A and 111 have also got streetlights installed with RWA funds.

“We have been lodging complaints for the past two years. But there has been no action. We bought LED lights to install them on the stretch leading to the society entrance,” said Yashesh Yadav, president, Mahindra Aura- residential complex RWA in Sector 110A.

“On April 22 evening, I had a narrow escape after four men chased me and stopped my car on a dark stretch in Sector 109. But, I was talking to one of my family members at that time, and got help immediately,” said Monica Dhull, a local resident.

Pratibha Dhingra, a resident of DLF Phase 3, said there were 10 houses in the lane where she lived. “All of us pooled in money to install streetlight so that we feel safe after sundown,” Dhingra said.

Gurgaon Action Plan (GAP), a body which works for social causes, had conducted an audit in the city in 2016. “We had found several issues pertaining to the type of street lights/ technology, placement and maintenance. We receive more than four complaints in a week regarding lack of streetlights and we have met the MCG commissioner several times in the last two years,” said Gauri Sarin, founder of GAP.

The body was planning to form a citizen monitoring committee in each municipal ward to collate data on the dark stretches in the city.

However, the Gurugram police said they have written to the Huda and MCG several times to repair streetlights as the miscreants often take advantage of the dark.

Yashpal Yadav, MCG commissioner said, “We have started the project to install the streetlights across the city and we will not neglect any sector. Our aim is to light up all the streets. The residents will not have to spend on the lights as we are working towards making the streets safer for them.”