Ahmedabad: In a city with over 2.1 lakh streetlights, keeping them working should be routine. Instead, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) seems to be grappling with a systemic crisis, having recorded a staggering 4.8 lakh complaints about non-functional lights between 2021 and 2025. That’s about 7,980 complaints every month. Even though the city’s streetlight maintenance contract officially expired in Jan 2025, theAMChas failed to finalise a replacement in more than a year. In the interim, the civic body has resorted to a fragmented approach, where different companies manage various zones informally without a tender. However, this ad-hoc arrangement has proven ineffective, as AMC data confirms that non-functional streetlights remain the most reported civic grievance among Amdavadis.How did it get here? In Jan 2020,AMChandedCitilumIndia Pvt Ltd a five-year contract to maintain all thestreetlights. At the time, the city had 1.69 lakh poles. As urban sprawl pushed that number to 2.1 lakh, the contract reached its term on January 10, 2025. Although officials made repeated requests for Citilum to continue, the company showed no interest. This forced theAMCto hastily assign the maintenance ofstreetlightpoles in different zones to various companies without a tender.TheAMCproposed a new five-year contract worthRs500 crore for operation, maintenance and supply, installation, testing, and commissioning (SITC) of allstreetlights, but this tender has not yet been finalised.Now, in a meeting to be chaired by theAMCadministrator on March 27, a proposal will be tabled to terminate the agency handling maintenance ofstreetlightsin South Zone. The agency was not doing a satisfactory job, said officials. A proposal will also be movedto shift its responsibilities to another contractor already operating in a different zone.The delay has raised compliance concerns. Under the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949 (GPMCAct) Act, complaints about non-functional streetlights on the main roads of Ahmedabad must be resolved within 24 hours, while complaints about non-functional streetlights on other roads must be resolved within 48 hours. However, with complaints continuing to pile up, the gap between norms and on-ground reality remains stark.
