Street lights defunct, electricity department unconcerned

PANCHKULA: Despite various complaints and official directions regarding defunct streetlights, electricity department seems least bothered about darkness in the city. Needless to say, the residents are a harassed lot.
Broken lights and defunct light points are a common sight in the city and most affected areas include sectors 21, 25, 20 and parts of sector 19.The municipal corporation's recent survey to check the condition of light points has failed to yield results as the faults do not seem to have been corrected even though there have been several incidents of accidents because of the dark roads.
"I fractured my leg as I could not see a huge boulder lying beside the divider near Tao Devi Lal Stadium and rammed my two wheeler into it in the darkness. Although I am familiar with the road as I am a daily commuter, I could not judge the hurdle," stated Anil Bhardwaj, a resident of Sector 21.
Unfortunately, conditions in the periphery of the city are worse.
"I have sent numerous requests and memos to the concerned authorities asking them to install street lights in my ward, but they just seem making false promises. Everybody knows that a large number of accidents happen in the periphery of the city because of this," alleged Salim Khan, councillor from ward number 20.
Surprisingly, in certain areas, street lights remain off at night, but on in the day.
S K Nayar, a resident of Sector 15, says there have been times when he has called the councillor and asked him to get the street lights switched off in the day.
Traffic lights in Panchkula too seem to remain out of order most of the time, giving commuters a tough time. Add to that absent police personnel. Accidents, as such, are a common sight. A government employee, who travels to Chandigarh daily, said, "People are often seen rushing to work and accidents happen because the traffic lights are defunct and traffic policemen are not present."
Officials, however, claim to have repaired most of the defunct points.
"In a recent survey, we had found around 600 light points to be defunct, but now most of them have been repaired," stated a senior official from the electricity department.