The city could plunge into darkness in the next few days. The only light on the city roads could be from the homes and commercial establishments.
The is because the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has failed to clear the bills of electrical contractors who maintain the streetlights, and the latter have threatened to strike work. The electrical contractors, who had stopped maintenance work of streetlights under the 127 packages a few days ago, said that they were switching the lights on and off now.
Sridhar, president of the contractors’ association, said that the dues totalling Rs. 20 crore was pending for the past 20 months.
“We have apprised the authorities concerned about this. But our pleas and representations have fallen on deaf ears. While we don’t want to inconvenience the public, there is no choice before us now,” he said.
Earlier this week, the contractors had parked all the streetlight maintenance vehicles on the premises of the BBMP head office to draw the attention of the authorities, including BBMP Commissioner M. Lakshminarayan and Mayor N. Shanthakumari, to their plight.
“We wanted to stop work earlier, but did not want to cause any inconvenience during Bengaluru Karaga,” said Mr. Sridhar.
Later, Ms. Shanthakumari met with a few of the contractors and assured them of directing the Chief Accounts Officer to clear part of the pending bills. For now, the association has adopted a “wait and watch” stance.
