Madurai Corporation gets a sky lift to maintain its streetlights

Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan launched the facility; the city has over 58,000 streetlights across its 100 wards

The newly launched sky lift vehicle is the first of four to be purchased, the Madurai Mayor said on Thursday | Photo Credit: R. Ashok

A sky lift has now been dedicated to the Madurai Corporation for its street light management.

Inaugurating the facility at the Anna Maaligai campus, the head office of the Madurai Corporation on Thursday, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said that such modern and state-of-the-art gadgets were necessary for efficient management. He appealed to all the workers to don safety equipment such as headgear and gloves while on duty.

Madurai Mayor Indrani Ponvasanth and Corporation Commissioner Simranjeet Singh Kehlon, who were participated in the event, said that the Corporation had plans to purchase four such sky lifts (hydraulic vehicles) and the first one had now been launched.

The city has 58,899 street lights across its 100 wards. In a bid to improve the quality and service of the functioning of the street lights, the Corporation had given 36,151 street lights to a private firm for upkeep.

Keeping in mind the need to save power and costs, controllers have been installed at 1,794 street lights, bring them under an automatic system to turn on and off, the officials said and added that a detailed project report (DPR) was being prepared for a street light monitoring system soon.

Councillors had brought up poor functioning of lights

The Communist councillors and others at the recently-held council meeting had pointed out the poor functioning of the street lights, especially, in the added wards of the city. As a result, crimes such as chain snatching and waylaying of passersby for thefts were taking place on the streets, they alleged.

The Mayor had promised to look into the complaints, and as a first step, the functioning of the lights would be monitored from a control room. Members of the public or residents can call the ward office concerned or use the WhatsApp facility with a photograph of non-functioning lights and action would be prompt, the Mayor said.

The Finance Minister also gave away uniforms, caps and gadgets to the workers on the occasion in the presence of Madurai South MLA M. Boominathan, zone chairpersons Saravana Bhuvaneswari and Pandi Selvi, councillors and officials from the Corporation.