Dark spots hound Delhi as vast stretches of roads remain without streetlights

The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has identified 19 dark spots — stretches lacking streetlights — around multiple bus stops in the national capital.

The data, exclusively accessed by Patriot, was compiled by the statutory body in December when Swati Maliwal was the chairperson. It lists dark spots in Mangolpuri, Rohini, Laxmi Nagar, Shastri Park, Delhi University North Campus, among other places.

“These places were identified as dark spots in December when we had taken the initiative to go around to demarcate them. We had identified these places when Swati spearheaded the campaign. However, it has been some time since, yet no action has been taken by agencies,” said Prem Prakash Dhal, DCW Secretary.

A senior official at the statutory body said that they have filed multiple complaints with all landowning agencies.
“It is a painstaking process since we have to deal with the landowning agencies the hard way. Sometimes they answer, but most times they do not. However, they pass the blame every time,” said the official.

According to the official, the land-owning agencies have been identified as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and the Public Works Department (PWD).

Patriot visited 12 dark spots to understand the seriousness of the situation.

In East Delhi, the Pushta Road stretch from Lalita Park to Bank Enclave is engulfed in darkness.

According to residents, the area has been thronged in darkness for over a year. The two-kilometrelong stretch is owned by the PWD and at present, an expressway is being built across it.

The dark patch has a total of 61 streetlight posts of which none have been working for the past year. The streetlights have been functional for a rather inconsistent amount of time during the said tenure. The posts include seven-winged street lights at the Lalita Park juncture, where the only source of light is emitted from a roadside stall which stops functioning by 10pm.

“These lights have not been functioning since they started constructing the road. However, even before that, the lights would stay functional only for very inconsistent periods. Moreover, there are no police units who come here to patrol. Sometimes one or two police vehicles pass by us, but that is the extent of it. Not many stay stationed here,” said Ramesh (name changed), the stall’s owner.

The road gives way to a flyover along the expressway, which has 32-winged streetlights which remain dysfunctional throughout the stretch. Residential clusters rest on one side with the only source of light being one floodlight.

Inadvertently, the stretch has turned into a haven for drug fiends. An adolescent child walks past using the footpath with a white handkerchief rolled up on his nose, both of his hands placed snugly on top of it.

Another sight unfolded with three men seated by the curbside, letting out a puff of their chillum, with no police officer in sight.

The sight and its details make the daily thoroughfare through the streets a drudge to sail through.

“The roads feel extremely unsafe because of the lack of light. Moreover, no public transport stops here, which also limits our option of transportation. If I ever use this particular stretch, I always make sure to hurry back home, mostly sprinting,” said Shalini Khanna (name changed), a resident of Ramesh Park who works graveyard shifts at an IT company in Noida.

Similarly, West Delhi’s Baprola is faced with a similar predicament with the stretch till Ranhola being engulfed in dreary darkness. The stretch has a total of 24 streetlights of which only five were working. The streets get empty by 10 along the PWD maintained road as the shops shut their shutters, nullifying the only source of light along the stretch.

“This area is not just unsafe at night for a passerby but also for anybody who drives on it. Without any light, it becomes dangerous to drive because of how broken the road itself is. It is pretty easy to not see one bump and in a second, have your vehicle overturned,” said Anil, an auto-rickshaw driver.

He added that no police patrolling unit comes to patrol the area, “leave alone have them set up a picket zone”.

The entire road stretches for 3.5 kilometres with only sense of respite thrown in through a stretch of five streetlights of approximately 100 metres.

A similar instance of a lack of streetlights can be seen near Bakkarwala’s bus stand, along the highway for a distance of approximately 30 metres.

A similar situation prevails at Pooth Kalan bus stand, near Rohini Sector 20, where only one side of the road is lit up while the other side only gets its share of light from the shops. However, it gets dimly lit up as some light bounces across from the halogen bulbs. No pedestrian remains in sight once the clock strikes 9:30pm.

The lack of sufficient lights is not limited to the national capital’s outskirts or its expressways.
Delhi University’s North Campus finds itself facing the brunt of a lack of streetlights as well, along an approximately 1.5-kilometre stretch.

Starting from the stretch of Vishwavidyalaya Marg signal till the DU PG Men’s Hostel, the stretch is engulfed in darkness. The stretch has had all of its streetlights dysfunctional since the time of DCW’s inspection in December, 2023, due to work on the sewer lines.

From the hostel, however, the streetlights start functioning haphazardly with only three singlehead lamp posts functioning. The backside of St. Stephen’s College to Hindu College is engulfed in darkness with a total of 14 singlehead lamp posts not functioning.

A taxi driver, who did not wish to be named, said that the students have been finding it extremely difficult to travel during the night from the area owing to the lack of functioning streetlights. The entire stretch is reportedly maintained by the MCD.

However, the functioning of lights has been halted due to the servicing of pipelines.

“A police patrolling unit is always stationed here, but that is not enough to help the students. There are a lot of students who book a cab only to travel from these dark spots to a maintainable lit-up area on the main road. The distance is barely a couple of 100 metres,” said the taxi driver.

According to Vaibhavi Raut (name changed), a student, the stretch has always felt unsafe owing to darkness despite the presence of a PCR vehicle.

“I am glad that the PCR van is stationed here but there should be some light along this stretch. This is the least that can be done, especially in an area with students. Also, since it is dark throughout, not many use this road. However, as a woman, I will have to continuously look over my shoulder during night to fend off anybody who jumps at me,” she said.

Among the other demarcated areas are Mangolpuri (Blocks B, Q, S, T), Shastri Park, Mandoli, New Usmanpur, Monta Park, Maharshi Valmiki Hospital, and Yamuna Ghat bus stops.

However, barring Yamuna Ghat, the area surrounding these bus stops are lit up with sufficient streetlights with only the stops being dimly lit or missing any light, according to the DCW.

According to a senior police official, multiple requests have been sent to the authorities concerned.

“We have sent multiple requests to the MCD and to the PWD to get these dark spots fixed and get the streetlights working. We have listed them all down. These become crime hotspots. Although, we have it under control with fairly routine patrols,” he said.

Similarly, Apoorva Gupta, East Delhi DCP, shared that they have sent the list of dark spots in the area to the agencies “from time to time”. “In 2024, the stretch witnessed two reported instances of mobile snatching, while five accidents were also noted in the area, of which three were fatal. However, there is no difficulty in patrolling along Pusta Road, apart from the problems caused by the flyover’s construction,” she said.

A senior engineer associated with the MCD disclosed that lack of functioning streetlights had been brought about by the unavailability of funds.

“There are a lot of unpaid bills, sometimes 10 years old. All of these have been stuck for a long time, this has made it difficult to maintain the streetlights that come under us,” he said.

Similarly, a senior engineer with the PWD stated that they had not received any complaint or request from any authority or person regarding dark spots or streetlights not functioning.

Recently, Kuldeep Kumar, the MP candidate for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), promised to fix the problem related to dark spots in East Delhi’s Pusta Road if voted to power.