Punjab: Tired of darkness, BJP leader fixes streetlights on his own

LUDHIANA: After raising the issue of non-functional streetlights in Ward 31, BJP mandal president for Daba and Lohara, Pankaj Sharma, fixed a technical snag at four locations at his level. At these locations, residents were complaining about the flow of electric current in the poles, and how a major incident could have taken place. On Friday, Sharma first cut the supply from the main line to these streetlights, and then started the repair work with some of his supporters.
While describing the problem, Ward 31 councillor Sonia Sharma said, “This ward has several issues, and non-functional streetlights is one of the major issue, which I have raised at many levels.The officials did not give any positive response, so my husband took the lead and repaired the crucial points.” She said 35 to 40 streetlight points were non-functional at the moment.
Meanwhile, Pankaj Sharma said, “The agreement between the MC and private contractor had ended on October 31, and since then, nobody was coming forward to remove the technical snag in the streetlights. At one location, a pole was damaged, and so we had to first set it right, and then change the bulbs. Also, at one location, the current was getting transferred to the poles. That was also repaired.”
However, civic officials are tight-lipped over streetlights, because a tussle is going on between the civic body and Tata company for LED streetlights. “A certain area is still left out where ordinary lights have not been replaced by LED lights, and on that, pressure is being created on the company,” said one of the officials.