The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is considering three options to settle the issue of maintenance of street lights in the city Corporation area.
The options were discussed at a meeting of the full-time members of the board on Tuesday. Board sources said one of the options was for the KSEB to take up the responsibility of buying the material and carrying out the work using contract workers, the second for the Corporation to buy the material and the board taking up the work using contract workers, and the third for the KSEB to hand over a list of approved contractors to the Corporation and the civic body overseeing the work.
“The three options were handed over to the Chief Engineers from the South, the Central, and the North zones. They will study it considering the previous experiences of such works in other local bodies in the State and submit a report. A decision will be taken based on this,” a source said.
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The source said the first two options were tricky as there were chances of the blame for any glitches falling on the board. “In the first option, we can be blamed if by any chance some of the street lights stop working after a period. In the second case, we have no way of ensuring the quality of material. The third one looks like the best bet,” he said. The Mayor and other Corporation officials had met the KSEB Chairman on Monday and submitted a proposal for the board to carry out the maintenance work with the civic body depositing the payments in advance.