Times
of India: Meerut: Wednesday, 01 July 2015.
After his
wife met with an accident near Begum Bagh in 2014, professor S K Ghai filed a
Right to Information query asking the Nagar Nigam why street lights in some of
the city's oldest areas have still not been fixed. Though Ghai filed the
application in June 2014 and the RTI Act stipulates that replies must come
within 45 days, he received his reply on June 23 - almost a year later.
While the
Nagar Nigam said all dark spots mentioned in the query have been fixed since
then, Ghai claims only one of them has been repaired.
"Last
year, my wife was riding her scooter at night along the dark Chakbandi Road. A
passerby inadvertently spat betel juice at her. In trying to avoid being
spattered, she swerved to the side and fell into a drain. After the accident, I
filed an RTI query asking the Nagar Nigam why street lights in the area were
not working. Even though I should have received a reply within 45 days, I
received one after a full year," Ghai, a professor of commerce at NAS Degree
College told TOI.
He added
saying, "I had enquired about streets in five places including Begum Bagh,
one of the oldest parts of the city. It is a large area and most of the
colonies here had been set up just after Partition. Despite the area being in
existence for so many year, basic amenities like street lights have not been
provided till date."
The reply
that Ghai received from the Nagar Nigam on June 23 this year said street lights
had been fixed in all the five places. However, Ghai says lights have been
repaired at only one spot on Bhupal Singh Road.
At Chakbandi
Road, where his wife met with the accident, street lights have not even been
installed, let alone be repaired.
"How can
they fix something that isn't even there? The reply I got from Nagar Nigam is
not only incomplete but a downright lie," said an irate Ghai.
The lights
inside Ashoka Colony, outside the eastern gate of Ashoka Colony and outside the
Begum Bagh mosque have not been fixed and the street connecting Dr Bhupal Singh
Road and Chakbandi Road does not have a single sodium street light.
"An
extremely dangerous situation exists in these areas. Not only does it increase
the risk of accidents, it also makes these residential colonies unsafe for
women. If some crime against women takes place in the night, the Nagar Nigam
will be at fault too," the educator said.
Meanwhile,
civic authorities are absolutely in the dark about the matter.
Speaking to
TOI, Nagar Nigam's executive engineer Moinuddin, said, "I am not aware of
the details of this matter. Since the RTI query was filed a year ago, I can't
say exactly what happened in the interim. But since a complaint has come from
this area, I will send a team there today so we know what is wrong. If an area
does not have street lights, we will install them. It is our responsibility and
we will fulfill it."