Installing LED street lights halts in Tvm KSEB division

Thiruvananthapuram: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi's convoy moved through city roads, especially Vellayambalam-Kowdiar road on Thursday night, malfunctioning street lights cast a shadow on city corporation's delayed LED installation drive.
Corporation has been dragging its feet on the city-wide LED street light installation project in the state capital, drawing criticism from residents and opposition councillors. The installation process came to a standstill in KSEB's Thiruvananthapuram division for the past few months. While Neyyattinkara division completed the installation, work in Thiruvananthapuram and Kazhakkoottam divisions remains significantly behind schedule. LED lights are being installed in 58 wards of Thiruvananthapuram division, 32 wards in Kazhakkoottam division and 10 wards in Neyyattinkara division.
Residents in affected areas expressed frustration over the delay. "In our colony near Sreekaryam, half the street lights are either broken or still old sodium vapour bulbs. We were promised LED replacements last year," said R Suresh, a resident of Kazhakkoottam.
Opposition BJP members raised the issue in the corporation council meeting on Tuesday. They accused the ruling front of inefficiency and poor project management. Opposition leader and BJP councillor MR Gopan said that the LED streetlight installation project was a complete failure. "BJP voted against this project when the proposal came on the agenda in the council meeting a year ago. It is impractical for a company to maintain street lights for 10 years, as the contract period is 10 years. Currently, the wards in Thiruvananthapuram and Kazhakootam KSEB divisions are in the dark. However, we will start a protest against this," he said.
Meanwhile, works standing committee of the city corporation decided to terminate the contract with AR Constructions due to the delay. They decided to float new tenders, appointing two contractors.
According to Medayil Vikraman, works standing committee chairman, the contractor subcontracted the work to KSEB contractors owing to shortage of labourers in the company. "Since the work was outsourced to the KSEB contractors, they demanded money to replace faulty ones. As per the contract, money can be given to the contractor only after completely replacing old lights with new LED lights. In the other two divisions, we handed over the money as they completed the work successfully. However, in Kazhakkoottam division, new light installation is yet to begin, and it will start soon," he said.
The corporation had given the contractor of Thiruvananthapuram division until Wednesday to complete the replacement and installation of new LED lights. However, sources said that the works haven't been completed.