GBA sets October 31 deadline for LED streetlights
BENGALURU Expressing serious displeasure over persistent civic grievances regarding broken infrastructure, Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda has slammed a hard deadline of October 31, 2026, for the complete installation and modernization of LED streetlights across the city. During a high-level virtual review meeting held with senior Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) officials, the Minister ordered sweeping administrative crackdowns, making physical on-ground inspections mandatory for civic personnel rather than blindly accepting paper reports. Furthermore, negligent contractors responsible for persistent maintenance failures have already been hit with cumulative penalties totaling Rs.93.67 lakh, calculated using real-time data from the Sahaaya 2.0 public grievance portal. The strict directives follow months of intense scrutiny into the city's lighting network, which previously led to the suspension of Executive Engineer H.V. Ramesh for severe dereliction of duty. Minister Gowda himself conducted surprise late-night inspections last month, catching numerous non-functional lights along major corridors. To permanently resolve these issues, authorities have been instructed to swap out aging sodium-vapour lamps for energy-efficient LEDs, particularly within the East City Corporation zone. Additionally, officials must expedite constituency-wise rollout schedules for a specialized Centralised Control and Monitoring System (CCMS) alongside dedicated control rooms across all four municipal corporations by the end of the month. Recent administrative pushes appear to be showing positive trends, with daily average complaints logged on the Sahaaya 2.0 app dropping from 293 in June down to 235 by October. Out of 8,186 complaints registered between September 1 and October 15, municipal teams successfully resolved 6,765 cases. GBA Chief Commissioner Maheshwar Rao confirmed that executive engineers and additional commissioners are actively monitoring performance on the ground. By combining automated digital tracking with swift financial penalties for lagging contractors, the municipal body aims to ensure a well-lit, secure urban environment for all residents.
