Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) installed decorative LED lights on nine stretches of seven roads at a cost of Rs 5 crore to showcase ‘Shining Nagpur’ to C20 delegates. These lights were said to have a one-year warranty, but many of them have either stopped working or are only dimly flickering in just 50 days, said a local media report.
The private agencies that were awarded the work to install and maintain the lights for one year have not been held accountable for the inferior quality work and lack of monitoring. The NMC had also decided to install decorative traffic signals at select locations ahead of the C20 meeting in March, but even after over a month, these signals have not been installed, the report claimed.
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Saturday 05 Oct. 2024
The civic body had spent Rs 1.27 crore on the decorative LED lights on the stretch from Airport T-Point to Ajni Square including double-decker flyover, Rs 34 lakh on Rahate Colony T-Point to Morris College T-Point on Wardha Road, Telangkhedi Hanuman Mandir to Futala Lake (Rs 19 lakh), Kachipura Square to Alankar Square (Rs 80 lakh), Ambazari T-Point to Swami Vivekananda Memorial (Rs 19 lakh), Manas Square to Morris College T-Point (Rs 23 lakh), Hingna T-point to Narendra Nagar on Inner Ring Road (Rs 97 lakh), Kriplani Square to Deekshabhoomi (Rs 42 lakh) and Laxmi Nagar Square to Vivekananda Memorial (Rs 55 lakh) on South Ambazari road.
The report revealed that many lights are either non-operational or dimly blinking, and some have dislocated and are hanging over the Inner Ring Road. Despite this, the NMC has not taken any action against the agencies for the inferior quality work and lack of monitoring.
An NMC official has denied the shoddy quality of work and has claimed that the contractors have offered a one-year warranty, so repairs will be carried out in case of any snag. However, the existing problems are due to power supply fluctuations, and the NMC plans to rope in Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology to carry out an audit of the decorative light works.
Similarly, the NMC is yet to install decorative LED traffic signals that were approved in view of the C20 meeting. The NMC had got approval for spending Rs 2.59 crore for installing these traffic signals at eight locations — Mangalmurti Square, Pratap Nagar Square, Sawarkar Square, Padole Hospital Square, Sambhaji Square, Trimurti Nagar Square, Hingna T-point, Dharampeth Mahila Bank Square, all on Inner Ring Road.
The NMC official said the tender process has been completed and work orders will be issued soon.
In summary, the NMC spent Rs 5 crore to install decorative LED lights on nine stretches of seven roads to showcase ‘Shining Nagpur’ to C20 delegates, but many of the lights have either stopped working or are only dimly flickering in just 50 days. Despite this, the private agencies responsible for installing and maintaining the lights for one year have not been held accountable for the inferior quality work and lack of monitoring. The NMC has also not installed the decorative traffic signals that were planned ahead of the C20 meeting in March.
