Bhopal: Miscreants are heaving a field day in areas like Saket Nagar, Shakti Nagar, Katra Hills. Incidents like loot, chain snatching, and mugging have become a routing affair in these areas as most of the roads in these colonies either have no streetlights or are having dysfunctional lights.
Absence of routine police patrolling has boosted the morale of the criminals and commuters are becoming their soft target. Poorly-lit streets or those without any lighting pose a danger to people. Venturing out during night on dimly-lit roads has become a nightmare for pedestrians specially girls and women and commuters on two-wheelers.
Prominent institutes like AII India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Advanced Materials and Processes Research Institute (AMPRI), Sagar Public School, Barkatullah University are located in these areas. Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) has turned a blind eye toward ensuring basic amenities like street lights in these colonies as they are still to be handed over to the civic body.
In the daylight, the entire AIIMS locality looks hi-tech, but as night sets in, the locality plunges into darkness as there are no proper streetlights. Doctors, medical students take the road where most of the lights are non-operational. People have approached local corporator many times seeking proper lighting on roads but all complaints have fallen on deaf ears.
Senior Mayor-in-Council (MiC) member Kewal Mishra said, “many times we reported to MPEB and higher authority. We have approached Mayor Alok Sharma but even then defunct street lights have not been fixed.”
The BMC is not taking interest as these colonies have not been handed over to the civic body administration, informed Mishra. The concerning builders and colonizers are responsible for the maintenance of sanitation, streetlights and other amenities in these localities but they are least bothered, said Mishra.
We had apprised the local corporators about our grievances but they are still to take note of it, said Mishra. Take advantage of situation, anti-social elements have become active in the area and incidents of loot, chain snatching are being reported, the residents decried.