The defunct street lights from CBD Belapur to Kalamboli on Sion Panvel Highway will be illuminated soon as a proposal to install electric poles and installing lights has been cleared during the general body meeting of Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC).
In April, officials of the Public Works Department (PWD) and PMC conducted a joint inspection of the street lights.
For the past many months, the street lights along the Sion-Panvel highway from Belapur to Kalamboli circle are in defunct states. So far, the maintenance of street lights, including signals on the highway, was with the PWD.
On Tuesday, a proposal worth Rs 10 crores were passed during the general body meeting. There are a total of 267 electric poles with 918 sodium lamps from CBD Belapur to Kalamboli junction.
Apart from the street lights, the civic body will also look after traffic signals in the stretch. As per the proposal, the contractor will be appointed for five years to repair and maintain. The PWD will transfer the funds to the corporation.
According to traffic police, the darkness on the highway has also led to an increase in the number of minor accidents. Taking all these factors into consideration, both the agencies carried out the inspection.
Earlier, PMC corporator Gurunath Gaikar had written a letter to the civic body administration to provide street lights on the Sion-Panvel highway to prevent accidents.
The PWD and NMMC had previously entered an agreement and now NMMC has floated tenders for the 'upkeep' of street lights from Vashi toll plaza to Belapur.
Similarly, PWD and NMMC had entered an agreement for the maintenance of all the street lights, transformers, electrical systems, and electricity meters on the Sion-Panvel highway from Vashi toll Plaza to Konkan Bhavan in Belapur. The civic body maintains them.
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