Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 6 Oct: The Nagar Nigam Dehradun (Dehradun Municipal Corporation) has stepped up its efforts to improve the city’s street lighting system in preparation for the upcoming festive season, prioritising both illumination and public safety. Nagar Nigam officials today commented that a large number of street lights tend to malfunction every year due to rains, prompting the Corporation to enhance its maintenance operations. While in previous years the work was managed by up to 26 teams, this year 40 teams have been deployed to speed up the repairs.
Through these intensified efforts, the number of street light complaints, which had crossed 350 just 20 days ago, has now come down to around 70. The Municipal Commissioner has directed that all remaining complaints be addressed within the next three days. Alongside repair work, more than 2,000 new lights have been installed across various parts of the city in the past one and a half months. In light of the upcoming festivals, all officers and employees of the Electrical Section have been directed to remain on duty, with no leave permitted until Diwali.
The officials also claimed that several lights within the limits of the Corporation have been installed and maintained by other agencies, such as MDDA, the National Highways Authority, and the Mandi Parishad. The maintenance responsibility for such lights rests with the respective agencies, though most citizens are unaware of this distinction.
To ensure comprehensive lighting coverage, the Municipal Corporation has secured a No-Objection Certificate from the Police Department to carry out repairs on lights installed on major city flyovers—Ballupur, Balliwala, and ISBT. The lights on the Ballupur flyover were successfully repaired early morning, yesterday.
In response to a report published in a prominent Hindi daily today which claimed that over 200 streetlights were non-functional across the city, officials carried out a physical inspection and found majority of the lights in working condition. They explained that, in some cases, the lights may have appeared non-functional due to temporary power shutdowns undertaken by the Electricity Department for maintenance in those areas.
Additionally, the timer system installed on the Niranjanpur Mandi–Shimla Bypass Road was damaged during sewer line work, leaving around 25 lights non-operational. These are expected to be repaired within two days, while another 35 lights were fixed earlier today further claimed the officials. The Corporation has also requested that members of the media to verify such issues with officers from the Light Section before publishing reports, to ensure accurate information is shared with the public.
