Streetlights continue to burn in daylight; official blames ongoing work
Lucknow Municipal Corporation's streetlights often stay on during the day, wasting ₹6 crore annually, while many areas remain dark at night.
Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC), which spent around ₹6 crore annually towards streetlight electricity bills, often forgot to turn these lights off during the day, locals claimed.
To check the veracity of such claims, this reporter inspected multiple locations—Dalibagh, Lohia Intersection, Jopling Road, Aliganj and Lalkuan—over the weekend when several streetlights were found to be working during daytime, even when several stretches in the state capital remained poorly lit at night.
“In Dalibagh, the streetlights either remain switched on throughout the day or don’t work at all,” said Akarsh Mittal, a local. “Despite orders from the divisional commissioner, LMC has taken no concrete steps to resolve the issue.”
The two-km-long Butler Palace and Gokhale Marg stretch was one of the several places where streets remained in the dark at night due to non-functional streetlights. Similarly, in Kalyanpur, a one-km-long stretch lacked even the basic infrastructure for streetlights. “I have raised the issue several times with LMC officials, but nothing has changed,” said Amit Kumar Mishra.
Near the Vibhuti Khand police station, commuters faced similar problems. “Streetlights here are either broken or were never installed. It feels risky to commute from her after dark,” said a motorist.
LMC chief engineer (Electrical & Mechanical) Manoj Prabhat acknowledged the issue. “There could be some ongoing maintenance work in these areas, which might be causing the streetlights to stay on during the day. We will resolve the issue,” he said.
On the poorly lit areas, he said: “We have identified several such areas and brought them to the attention of senior officials. Once we get clearance, we will initiate tendering for repairs and new installations.”
According to the LMC, the city has around two lakh streetlights. However, complaints of their improper monitoring, outdated systems, and lack of timely maintenance galore.
