Beautification drive faces snag as fancy lights conk out in city

Over the past few weeks HT inspected busy spots across the island city as well as the suburbs to find the lights across the Western Express Highway, Santacruz Chembur Link Road, internal roads of Borivali, Kandivali, Dadar, Parel and Vikhroli, have stopped working

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) ambitious ₹1,700 crore project to beautify the city is facing its first snag – the decorative lights set up since October 2022 to illuminate the city are malfunctioning.

Mumbai, India - Sept. 21, 2023: Decorative lights on light poles at Western Express Highway, Magathane Flyover Some lights are not working in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, September 21, 2023. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

Over the past few weeks HT inspected busy spots across the island city as well as the suburbs to find the lights across the Western Express Highway, Santacruz Chembur Link Road, internal roads of Borivali, Kandivali, Dadar, Parel and Vikhroli, have stopped working.

Chief minister Eknath Shinde had allocated the budget in September 2022 to BMC to beautify and illuminate Mumbai, as part of the Mumbai Beautification Project. Each of the 24 wards was given ₹30 crore for the purpose. In the first six months of the announcement, BMC spent ₹720 crore on the cosmetic makeover of the city’s visage. Of the kitty till March 2023, ₹275 crore was spent on illumination. The civic body had allocated an additional budget of ₹50 crore each month to pay the power bills incurred in the process.

A little over a year later, many butterfly, peacock and other LED lights wrapped around streetlight poles, such as the tri-colours, have either partially or completely stopped functioning. BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said the administration was abreast of the shortcoming. “We are on it, and you will see the difference and restoration in the next two weeks,” he said.

Some officials of the civic body however said, since the project was still under the ‘defect liability period’ (DLP), it will be repaired by the respective contractors.

Others blamed illegal banners set up on the light poles were damaging the LED lights and the wiring. “The political hoardings are tied with metal strings, which leads to the LED lights and wires wrapped around getting damaged. That is the cause of the malfunctioning lights,” said an official.

A BMC official said, “The wiring done earlier was only synched with traditional street lights. Now there are peacocks and LED lights wrapped on it across all the poles. Recently, after we requested Adani Electricity to investigate the matter, they said the wires were unable to take the load and additional cabling will have to be done. This will require permissions to dig and lay wires at many locations including highways, which is not possible.”

A senior civic official said the lights were kept shut during the monsoons “to avoid any untoward incident”. However, after it was ordered to be started, some of the lights did not switch on. “We have ordered the contractors to fix or replace them soon since these are under a two-year DLP,” he said.

What they say

Advocate Trivankumar Karnani, founder, Mumbai North Central District Forum (MNCDF)

The Bombay high court has empowered BMC to register FIRs against those putting up illegal banners, especially when public money has been used on the installation of these beautification lights. It is the administration’s legal obligation to ensure they are operational and maintained. Hence, if rules are being flouted BMC should start registering FIRs at local police stations against these offenders under defacement act and IPC.

Kamlakar Shenoy, activist and social worker

This is just another way of wasting citizens’ money. Why didn’t the BMC study and chalk out a plan before spending money on the lighting? The inability of street lights to take load also should have been factored in. Instead of spending on basic facilities, BMC has wasted our money on beautification. We need more public hospitals and schools across the city.

Cheryll Pereira, social activist

Instead of spending money in beautifying the city, it should be used to remove garbage and illegal political banners across the city. The city has a problem of streamlined garbage collection. If all political banners are taken off and garbage cleared, we won’t need additional beautification, and money can be used for better cause.