Non-functional streetlights have made the 42-km-long six-lane Outer Ring Road (ORR) unsafe for motorists and the residents of localities abutting the busy carriageway as neither the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) nor the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) is doing anything to fix the problem that has been persisting since the time the six-lane road was constructed.
Surprisingly, the streetlights are made to glow only when Mysuru hosts the annual Dasara festivities but are turned off once the celebrations get over. Despite repeated complaints from the public and also directions to the officials from the Ministers who were in charge of Mysuru district, the problem doesn’t seem to be getting serious attention, making the stretch dangerous at night.
With poor visibility after dusk and many vehicles parked on the service roads violating the rules, it becomes risky for the residents of layouts beyond the ORR to use the service roads that are isolated and unsafe without proper illumination.
About 2,000-plus streetlight poles have underground cabling and the authorities have complained that the wires have been eaten away by rats and rodents. The engineers have suggested re-wiring for making them fully functional.
But, who will fund the work with neither the MCC nor the MUDA taking responsibility for the maintenance? The MCC claims that the ORR does not come under its limits while the MUDA has been arguing that it has handed over the road to the NHAI.
After growing public criticism, the MUDA is now believed to have asked its engineers to prepare an estimate for rewiring work. It has plans to put in LED bulbs. Officials at the MUDA were not available for comment on the status of the proposal. Also, officials at the MCC did not answer the calls.
The real issue is who has to foot the electricity bill as dues had earlier forced the Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation to disconnect supply. Thereafter, the wiring problem persisted, making them non-functional.
In fact, the Mysuru City Police had earlier written to both the local bodies to resolve the issue and make streetlights work. Despite the intervention of the police, the problem is yet to be sorted out.
Minister in charge of Mysuru district S.T. Somashekar had intervened once since the issue continues to bother the residents and motorists using the road with no remedy yet despite continuous appeals and memoranda submitted to the authorities. There have been accidents reported on the road with the traffic on the ORR almost doubled with the sharp increase in users with rapid urbanisation of areas beyond the road.
Thanks to ORR, a five to six km radius from the ORR has been developed and over a hundred layouts have come up. ORR is the only link road for the areas to access the city centre. Another reason why the ORR has turned busy is it is getting highly commercialised with many traders establishing their businesses on the buildings constructed along the road.
