Non functioning street lights is a challenge to infrastructural boost to modern India. In Urban area like Delhi, Bombay and other metros, statistics shows, non functioning street lights have resulted in increase of crime rate. Whereas in rural areas people can still be found walking with a torch at night. Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has over 93,511 street lights under its area, of which around 10,000 were continuously out of order. The problem of non functioning of street lights has its legal implication too. Here is a detailed procedure on how to and whom to complaint if the street lights next to your home or anywhere else is not working, written by Anubhav Kumar Pandey, from RGNUL Patiala.

Whose liability arises on non functioning of street lights and where to complain

With decentralisation of powers the load of governmental functions have further  bifurcated. Now at the local level  in every state governing bodies called Nagar Panchayat  (for area transforming from rural to urban setup), Municipal Council ( for smaller urban area) and  Municipal Corporation ( for larger urban area) functions. State government empowers these municipal bodies with powers and authorities so that they can function as a self governing body and imposes upon them duties such as preparation of plans for economic development and social justice.

 

Out of all the duties imposed upon these local bodies these are few obligatory duties which they ought to perform, providing for safe and potable drinking water, construction and maintenance of public street light and watering of public streets, cleaning of public streets,  and sewers,  maintenance or support of public hospitals,  establishment and maintenance of primary schools,  registration of births and deaths, removing obstructions and projections in public streets, bridges and other places,  naming streets and numbering houses. In rural area it is the duty of the village panchayat or zila parishad as the case is, to take care of basic infrastructural growth and maintenance of the area and this also includes similar duties as, providing safe drinking water and even proper lighting of streets as well as  responsibility to maintain street lights.

 

Property Tax (Municipal Tax)→ It is the inherent duty of the municipal body to take care of proper functioning of street lights as people pay appropriate tax for this.  Property tax is a levy charged by the municipal authorities for the upkeep of basic civic services and amenities in the city like roads, sewer system, parks, and other infrastructure facilities like lighting, as well as for maintenance of the existing infrastructure.

In case of non-functioning of street light one can write to municipal corporation, call and submit their application and even register an online complaint. You can find links as to where to register online complaints.

 

Complaining by writing a letter → Old but still works.  Problems of poor roads and street lights in your locality can be resolved by writing a letter to the Municipal Corporation or Panchayat by complaining about the issue. Soon after complaining about the problems of poor condition of streets lights, the officials of Municipal Corporation will come into action and do the needful.

A sample letter is attached here →

 

To

The Chairman,

Date: – _____________

 

Sub:- Complaint letter for the poor condition of streets lights.

 

Dear Sir,

 

We, the residents of ……………………(Place) would like to draw your kind attention towards the poor upkeep of street lights in our region.

 

The street lights in our region have not been repaired for quite a while. There are wear and tears all over the wiring mechanism. The state of the street lights is more terrible amid the stormy season. During the evening individuals frequently stagger down. Additionally, non availability of proper lighting across the streets increases a further chance of accident and other mishaps.

 

Also, this has added to dimness in the area. It has brought about a spurt in the frequency of wrongdoing in the region. There are regular episodes of chain grabbing at night hours. Especially women are in danger in leaving their homes at night. Grabbing, thievery and robbery have turned into the order of the day. The criminals in the wake of perpetrating law violations exploit the obscurity and securely flee.

 

I, accordingly, request you to kindly take necessary move to mend the ways so that people of the region have proper street lights.

 

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

 

(Your signature here)

(Your name here)

(Your address here)

(Your contact number)

 

Few municipalities like Kolkata have issued E-forms for such issues and their redressal. One such E- form can be downloaded from this link. →

https://www.kmcgov.in/KMCPortal/ComplaintFormAction.do

Complaining through phone- call → It is the most prefered and convenient way. One can call the respective municipal authority or village panchayat and register a formal complaint. Each municipality is further divided into their area of work and is known by different names in different cities. The department concerned with proper upkeepment of street light is mostly known as Lighting department. The complaint after being registered  will be forwarded to the respective ward, ward authorities will inform the technician and the process will further continue. In Delhi and various other metro’s, PWD along with Municipal corporation work on improving basic infrastructure which includes monitoring of functioning of street light. 

For Delhi, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL), supplying electricity in South and West Delhi has recently launched a dedicated 24 x 7 toll-free number  → 1800-10-39707.

North Delhi Municipal Corporation 1800-200-8701

South Delhi Municipal Corporation 24331942

East Delhi Municipal Corporation 22144125

For Kolkata → 25302513

Howrah Municipal corporation 033 2638-3211

For Mumbai Greater Mumbai → 022-2618 4027

South Ward BMC →022- 24305031

Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation →022- 27567070

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation → 79-25391811

Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation → 0891 2746301

Guwahati Municipal Corporation → 918811007000

Patna Nagar Nigam → 0612 309 5555

Ranchi Municipal Corporation → 0651 221 1215

Goa Municipal Corporation → 9403687453

Gurugram Municipal Corporation 1800 180 1817

Panchkula Municipal Corporation → 0172-2583794

Jammu Municipal Corporation 1800 180 3333

Bangalore Municipal Corporation→  022 2222 1188

Online complaint → Now it is even easy to complain about non-functioning street lights through internet. Complaint is registered and duly entertained on time. In Delhi PWD along with Municipal corporation have started online portals for non-functioning street lights complaint. https://www.pwdsewa.pwddelhi.gov.in/Home/SubmitComplaint

Kolkata → https://www.kmcgov.in/KMCPortal/jsp/KMCStreetLight.jsp

Panchkula http://www.complaintboard.in/complaints-reviews/municipal-corporation-panchkula-l411340.html

Bangalore Municipal Corporation  →

http://www.complaintboard.in/complaints-reviews/bangalore-municipal-corporation-l87840.html

Jammu Municipal Corporation →  http://www.jmcjammu.org/OnlineGrievances.aspx

Gurugram →

http://www.complaintboard.in/complaints-reviews/municipal-corporation-gurgaon-l62045.html

Goa → http://complaint.org.in/index.php/2016/09/08/goa-government-online-complaint/

Patna→ Municipal corporation http://www.complaintboard.in/complaints-reviews/patna-municipal-corporation-l130144.html

Vishakhapatnam → https://gvmc.gov.in/gvmc/index.php/complaint-registration

Mumbai Municipal Corporation →

http://www.mcgm.gov.in/irj/portal/anonymous?NavigationTarget=navurl://aa8bfeaec45dfd196603bed791d407fe&NavMode=3

Thiruvananthapuram →

http://www.bookcomplaints.com/India/consumer-file-complaint/Thiruvananthapuram-Municipal-C-online-reviews-complaints/company-product-list/company/thiruvananthapuram-municipal-corporation_i9061#.WGNxrlN97Dc

Street light operation and maintenance process involves the following steps

 

 

Pic courtsey http://portfolio.cept.ac.in/municipal-street-light-management/

Court intervention on the issue regarding non functioning of street lights

Indian courts have been particularly strong on non functioning street lights and the deteriorated condition of rural lighting infrastructures. In various decisions, courts have slammed municipal corporation for their inability to act on complaints lodged by residents of localities. In one of its decision regarding provision of separate lanes in roads for non-motorised vehicles (‘NMVs’) and, the decongestion of the main Chandni Chowk thoroughfare, Delhi High Court took a stand on implementation and maintenance of streetlights and reminded MCD that, it has been decided to implement the scheme by making all services underground, up-gradation of the footpath using rich specification, providing street light of heritage type and carpeting of the road and part development of plazas on the road. In yet another judgment, Orissa High Court slammed the municipal authority for their inability and reminded them of the cyclone which caused blunder to  state and led to non functioning of street lights which was  not resolved after years of disaster.  The courts have entertained various PIL to direct the concerned authorities attention towards the action plan and time bound programme of implementation for the promotion of simple infrastructural advancement like street lights, drinking water etc. In one such PIL, High court of Karnataka dealt with  Improvement of roads, public health and infrastructural facilities in Bangalore, laying roads and sidewalks, improving street lighting, co-ordination among agencies regarding digging footpaths and road cutting, prevention of dumping of debris and hospital waste, etc.

Privatisation of street lights and shifting of legal liability

Patiala city municipal corporation gave the contract for maintenance of street light on contract basis. Privatisation is proving to be beneficial and cost effective as these contractors are held responsible for non functioning of street light. In most of contracts it is duty of the contractor to ensure that the street lights do not remain out of order for more than 24 hours. On breaking of clauses these contractors are penalised also. Both Municipal corporation and private contractor can be made a party to the PIL. The High Court  may issue a writ of Mandamus(Under Article 32 of Indian Constitution). The writ of mandamus is thus an order by a superior court commanding a person or a public authority (including the Government and public corporation) to do something in the nature of public duty.

 

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