E-Paper
Two months since inspections ordered, 1.5L streetlight poles still not fault proof in Lucknow
Around 1.5 lakh streetlight poles in Lucknow remain unchecked for hazards, despite 50,000 being inspected after electrocution incidents.
Around 1.5 lakh streetlight poles in the city were yet to be inspected to ensure that they did not pose any risks of electrocution and other hazards.
According to a senior official in Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC), about 50,000 streetlight poles have been checked and made fault proof after a citywide survey was ordered on March 6 to identify hazardous electrical installations.
Despite LMC’s claims of regular maintenance of these poles, residents alleged that little had changed on the ground even after several people died due to faults in the electrified street poles.
In one such instance, a man was electrocuted after exposure to a live wire at Kanchan Nagar Park in Shankar Purwa last September 1. The incident triggered an outrage, prompting LMC to launch a temporary drive to cover poles with tapes. Mayor Sushma Kharkwal had announced ₹10 lakh as compensation for the victim’s family.
An inspection of some areas by this reporter on Sunday showed that streetlights poles on several stretches, including from Ballu Adda to 1090 Chauraha, had wires dangling from them.
A similar situation was observed on the stretch between Patrakarpuram and Manoj Pandey intersection.
In residential areas like Gomti Nagar Extension and Jankipuram Extension, residents said streetlight poles with exposed live wires were a constant threat to them.
“There is a long stretch of road outside Alaknanda Apartments where many poles have wires hanging out from them. We’ve raised complaints, but no official responds,” said Aditya Sharma from Gomti Nagar Extension.
P.P. Shukla from Jankipuram Ext., highlighted a similar issue near the new campus of Lucknow University.
“A child lost his life after touching an exposed wire... After a while, LMC officials were back to ignoring our calls,” Shukla said.
LMC chief engineer (Mechanical & Electrical) Manoj Prabhat, who said 50,000 poles had been inspected and taped so far, said: “We carry out the taping exercise regularly. Sometimes after maintenance, people forget to retape the wires.”
Additional municipal commissioner Lalit Kumar had earlier confirmed that a team was assigned to inspect parks and other public spaces.
Attempts to reach him on Sunday for a comment were unsuccessful.
