Ludhiana residents protest against defunct streetlights, distribute candles

Say there has been a spike in snatching and theft cases due to the darkness in the area

Raising slogans against the municipal corporation (MC), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders and the residents of ward number 54 staged a protest against defunct streetlights in the area and distributed candles among residents and shopkeepers here on Thursday evening.

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The residents lashed out at the civic body and alleged that there had been a spike in snatching and theft cases due to the darkness in the area. They stated that two such incidents had been reported recently.

A woman’s gold chain was snatched by miscreants in Ambedkar Nagar on May 27. In another incident, a thief took away parts of an electricity meter installed outside a flour mill in Ram Nagar on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.

The thief was caught on the CCTV installed outside the mill.

Manpreet Singh Manna, who is a relative of area councillor Surinder Kaur, said, “While the MC has failed to get LED streetlights installed on the main roads, the old lights (sodium vapour lamps) have been lying defunct since December. We have told mayor Balkar Sandhu and MLA Surinder Dawar about the problem but to no avail.”

Alok Kumar, the flour mill owner, said, “The civic body should resolve the problem at the earliest as the residents are deeply troubled. They are afraid to even step out of their houses after sunset.”

“A few days back, a gang of thieves stole mobile phones from one of the houses in the area. Even the CCTV cameras do not work properly in the dark,” he added.

Mayor Balkar Sandhu said, “I had conducted an inspection in the past and know that streetlights are lying defunct in different parts of the city.”

“A meeting of the MC general house will be scheduled soon to take action against the Tata company, which has taken up the project to install LED street lights in the city,” he added.