7 privately developed colonies to get 11,700 LED streetlights

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has sanctioned work orders for installation of 11,700 LED streetlights in seven privately developed colonies with work to illuminate Suncity and Palam Vihar having started last week, officials said Tuesday. Officials added that streetlights would also be installed in South City 1-2, DLF Phases 1-2, and Sushant Lok 1.

Since February, MCG has taken over civic maintenance of Palam Vihar, Sushant Lok 1, South City 1, Suncity, and Nirvana Country in South City 2. DLF Phases 1 and 2 are yet to be taken over as the developer decided to fix the civic deficiencies on its own instead of paying the MCG to complete the work.

In August 2017, the MCG and the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for installing LED streetlights across the city. In March this year, a month after the MCG took over the privately developed colonies, it approached the EESL with the proposal to install LED streetlights in the seven colonies.

“After the general elections were over and the model code of conduct was lifted, the EESL and the MCG carried out a survey in each of the seven colonies. Following the completion of the survey earlier this month, we issued a work tender for installation of 1,170 streetlights in these colonies. In the first phase, we are installing streetlights in Suncity and Palam Vihar. The work is almost complete,” MCG executive engineer, electrical wing, Raman Yadav said.

Yadav, however, said that no deadline has been set for the project. He added that DLF Phase 3, which is also one of the colonies that is due to be transferred to the MCG, has not be included in the list due to technical reasons. He declined to further comment on the issue.

MCG officials said that in the next phase, South City 1 and Sushant Lok 1 will be covered.

Prior to taking over, MCG had carried out a civic infrastructure deficiency assessment survey in each of the eight colonies in 2017. The survey report had highlighted that none of the colonies had a single energy-efficient LED streetlight installed. Even the ones which existed had been defunct for the last seven to eight years as the sodium-vapour streetlights were not connected to separate feeders and drew power directly from distribution transformers, making them vulnerable to malfunctioning.

Dipanvita Sehgal, who has been staying in Palam Vihar since 2012, said that she had never seen the service lanes and residential blocks lit up in the evenings. “Streets were never illuminated in Palam Vihar making it unsafe, especially for women and children, at night. Since last week, things have improved and most areas are now well-illuminated. I can now safely walk after dinner,” she said.

VMK Singh, a resident of Suncity, said a few residents had also discussed the lack of streetlights with joint commissioner Hariom Attri earlier this month.

“We had held a meeting with the joint commissioner recently, and the need for streetlights was one of the main demands raised by us. Most streetlights have not been defunct for a decade. Now that the roads are illuminated, more residents can be seen walking on the streets,” Singh said.