As part of speeding up the pending maintenance work of streetlights, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) convened a review meeting here on Wednesday. The city Corporation will grant Rs.25 lakh to the Electricity Department shortly for the purpose.
Councillors aligned to the ruling party alleged that the protest now being staged by the Opposition in the name of dysfunctional streetlights was a farce and meant to make political gains. The city Corporation had taken all the necessary steps to ensure the timely maintenance of the lights, they said.
According to them, it was a ruling from the State government that local self-government institutions should find their own funds for the maintenance of streetlights that created confusion. It was quite an unfeasible move on the part of the government as no local self-government institutions were equipped to do so, they said.
The councillors also said that the city Corporation was, however, taking a pro-active step to tackle the crisis and deciding to remit the required sum to the KSEB to do the maintenance. The KSEB would take up the work for the next six months, they said.
In a communication issued here on Wednesday, the councillors said the maintenance work would begin in all locations in two days.
An amount of Rs.22 lakh for Kozhikode division and Rs.3 lakh for Feroke division had been sanctioned for the purpose, the council members added.
