LED streetlights row in Ludhiana: Facing flak, Tata firm officials meet Mamta Ashu - Hindustan Times
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LED streetlights row in Ludhiana: Facing flak, Tata firm officials meet Mamta Ashu

Hindustan Times, Ludhiana | By, Ludhiana
Jan 07, 2020 10:47 PM IST

While Mamta slammed the company over non-functional streetlights and its failure in completing the project even in one of the four zones of the city, the officials blamed the poor infrastructure and delay by the municipal corporation (MC) in granting permissions, for the alleged slow pace of the project. 

Amid row over non-functional LED streetlights, officials of the Tata Projects Limited conducted a meeting with councillor Mamta Ashu at her office at the Model Gram community centre here on Tuesday.  

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The officials, who met the councillor, included Tanmoy Chakrabarty, government affairs officer, Tata Sons; Rajendra Inani, business head, smart cities, Tata Projects Ltd, and others.

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 While Mamta slammed the company over non-functional streetlights and its failure in completing the project even in one of the four zones of the city, the officials blamed the poor infrastructure and delay by the municipal corporation (MC) in granting permissions, for the alleged slow pace of the project. 

Mamta had been continuously complaining about the slow pace of the project and a large number of LED streetlights lying non-functional in the city. 

 Councillors, including Mamta, Yashpal Chaudhary, Sunita Rani and others had also raised a hue and cry over the proposal tabled in the MC’s General House meeting for granting extension to the company. Ashu had said, “The Ludhiana Smart City Limited (LSCL) should impose penalty on the company for its ‘failure’ in completing the project in time and repairing the streetlights.” The councillors demanded that the contract with the company should be terminated.

Mamta reminded the officials at the meeting that, as per the terms and conditions of the contract, the implementation timeline of the project envisaged that the successful bidder was to supply, install, test and commission the LED lights and three-phase CCMS panels within 9 months from the date of the award of the work, and that deadline ended on May 7, 2019 but, sadly, the company had still not completed the work.

Mamta also alleged that the online system of the company, through which officials keep a check on functional and non-functional streetlights, also contradicts with the reality. 

 Business head Inani said, “The company also does not want the public to suffer, but they are also facing trouble in implementing the project properly due to the dilapidated streetlight infrastructure. They had demanded 64 crore for improving the infrastructure and only around 13 crore was sanctioned.” 

“The company is making every possible effort to complete the project. The company is also carrying out the maintenance work even before the completion of the project. However, the maintenance is not the duty of the company before the project is completed as per the agreement,” added Inani. 

 He said, “We also going to conduct a meeting with MC and LSCL officials to resolve all the issues. The company has already installed 86,000 LED streetlights in the city and around 75,000 points are controlled through the online system. The delay is not in the interest of the company deliberately, as it will get its share only from the power savings after the project is completed,” 

As per information, the company has to implement the project worth 130 crore and, in return, they would get 85% of the share from power savings to recover the cost. 

 MOBILE APP FOR LODGING COMPLAINTS

Mamta urged residents to take full advantage of the mobile app ‘Streetlight Complaint’ for filing complaints in case the streetlights near them are not functional. She said residents could also use the toll-free number 1800-121-484848 to register their complaints with TPL. The company officials assured that if any resident registered a complaint, it would be redressed within 48 hours. 

DECISION ON EXTENSION AT ALL-PARTY MEET

While company officials have been demanding extension of the deadline for completing the project by March 31, Mamta said a decision regarding the same would be taken in the all-party meeting. During the House meeting of the MC held on December 31, mayor Balkar Sandhu had announced that the decision would be taken in the all- party meeting, which would be held shortly.

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