Can Someone Turn Off the Street Lights Still Lit during Daylight in Bishop’s Compound-Valencia, Mangaluru?
Mangaluru : Who has never cursed when seeing street lights still lit during the day? Especially as we have all been taught from a very young age to switch off the lights as soon as there is enough natural daylight to avoid wasting money and energy. However, many a times things happen in a different way. When a common person is late by a short period in paying the power bill, the MESCOM officials are quick in disconnecting the power supply. But on the other hand when electricity is simply wasted with the street lights remaining lit during daylight, I guess that is okay with MESCOM authorities. Bah humbug! When energy crisis is a big threat and unscheduled power cuts are the order of the day, street lights can be seen burning during daytime in Second Cross Silva Lane/other lanes in the Bishop’s Compound-Valencia, and for that matter, even in many parts of the city.
Whether Mangaluru City Corporation or Mescom officials have the control over the functioning of street lights, either one of them have to take the responsibility in not wasting the precious source of energy. The burning of lights in the morning might be due to the fault in automatic switches that have to cut off the lights during the day, or probably the man who is in charge of turning on and turning off the lights might be still sleeping or gives a damn about the power wastage.
Residents of this Ward speaking to Team Mangalorean said that the street lights in their area are on for almost a week now, and they say that it is the duty of the officials in Corporation or Mescom to ensure that all street lights and switches were maintained properly. “Periodic checks are not happening. Huge amount of tax payers’ money are getting wasted. Energy consumption is already high because of the use of fans and air conditioners to beat the summer heat. It is the responsibility of the authorities to take steps to prevent waste of energy unnecessarily”, said yet another lady resident in that area.
But another lady Ms Monica Pinto ( name changed) from that area said, “These lights are not ON during the night time, and we have to walk in the dark. But they are lit during the entire day time, which is nothing but negligence of the concerned authorities and also a wastage of power”. Kind of confusion but well said by Ms Pinto, since it looks like the time setting has been screwed up, instead of PM hours, the time might have been set to AM hours for the lights to come on and shut off automatically, if that’s the case. But whatever be the case care should be taken that no power is wasted, either due to the faulty timer or the switching on or off of the lights manually.
So what’s the solution for this? The street lights have to be on to check if the fault has been duly repaired. Just like at home, when you change a bulb! The difference is that probably they do not have a single switch to switch the light off after the test. The street lights therefore remain on for days, until complaints are made or the issue is highlighted in Mangalorean.com? This scene is ironic, as street lights are not necessary during the morning hours. Yet, we notice this happening every day.
And in that case, as responsible citizens of Mangaluru, we need to bring such power wastage issues to the attention of the Mescom authorities or MCC, as this is an extremely worrying situation. Seeing light still on in the morning, when the sun had risen, it is immense waste of electricity. In a Smart City like Mangaluru, where people are encouraged to save water and electricity in favour of Mother Nature, such wastage is certainly unacceptable. This scene was troubling and and Yours truly felt very helpless about it. With this in mind, I hope that the concerned authorities realize the need to do something about the issue. Let’s OUR, MESCOM, and MCC’s motto be “SAVE ENERGY, and NOT WASTE ENERGY”?
