BEST in the dark over LED lights

According to an RTI filed by activist Anil Galgali, Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) that maintains the streetlights in the city is unaware of its responsibility of maintaining the new LED lights placed on the iconic Queen’s Necklace.

The RTI includes a letter dated May 5, 2015 in which BEST general manager, Jagdish Patil has written to the BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta, as well as additional municipal commissioner S.V.R. Srinivas, asking if the BEST is still to maintain the eco-friendly lights that have been fixed by BMC officials.

Mr Galgali claims that RTI response exposes the lack of communication between the parent organisation and its agency, “The divisional engineer (street light) informed that a total of 644 candescent lamps, manufactured by Canara, Bajaj, Crompton and Fixolite, costing Rs 5,000 each were replaced with LED lamps, whose manufacturers are not known to the BEST. The documents provided regarding the correspondence between the BEST administration and the municipal administration shockingly exposes the communication gap between them. Dr Jagdish Patil, general manager of BEST has failed evoke a response from the municipal commissioner and the nodal officer for the project,” he said.

Mr Galgali has expressed that the state government and the MCGM needs to collectively arrive at a solution for the issue. “The letter has been addressed to both the office bearers and yet there is no reply to the issue. Mr Patil has mentioned in a footnote that this could lead to misunderstandings, confusions in future and hence has expressed that a single system for maintenance needs to be established for ensuring smooth and faster redressal of complaints and responses to it, which needed to be sorted out,” he added.

When contacted, Mr Patil refused to comment on the matter and Mr Srinivas was unavailable.