StatesKarnataka
Krishna Byre Gowda gives contractors until 31 October to light up Bengaluru with LED streetlights
The Greater Bengaluru Development Minister said contractors had already been fined ₹93.67 lakh for failing to maintain the city's streetlights, and warned of more action.
Key points
- Minister Krishna Byre Gowda set a 31 October deadline for LED streetlights across Bengaluru.
- Contractors have been fined ₹93.67 lakh for poor streetlight maintenance.
- He warned contractors that maintenance failures would not be tolerated.
Karnataka’s Greater Bengaluru Development Minister, Krishna Byre Gowda, has given contractors until 31 October to switch the city’s streetlights to LED, and warned them that poor upkeep of the lights would cost them.
The minister, who is in charge of the capital’s development in the Karnataka government, said fines had already been handed out. “Penalties totalling Rs 93.67 lakh have already been imposed on contractors for failing to maintain streetlights,” Byre Gowda said on Monday.
Dark stretches of road are among the most common complaints from Bengaluru’s residents, who have long blamed broken and flickering lamps for accidents, crime and unsafe walks home, particularly for women. Maintenance of the lamps is handled by contractors, which puts them squarely in the minister’s sights.
LED fixtures use far less power than the older sodium lamps they replace, so the switch is meant to cut the city’s electricity bill as well as brighten its roads.
For residents, the test will be simple: whether their street is lit when they walk home in November. The deadline gives contractors less than two weeks, and it falls in the middle of the festive season, when evening traffic and crowds in the city’s markets peak. Byre Gowda did not say on Monday what action would follow if it is missed, beyond the fines already imposed.