Coimbatore city owes Tangedco over ₹ 50 lakh towards traffic signal bills

Payment of electricity charges of the signals stopped after the Madras High Court issued a ban on advertisements and hoardings on traffic signals on October 31, 2017

It is a given that the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) disconnects power supply when consumers fail to pay the bills. However, over 60 traffic signals in Coimbatore city are blinking without the bill being paid for the past five years.

The Tangedco is learnt to have not disconnected power supply to the signals as it would put the public in trouble and lead to traffic chaos.

Coimbatore Consumer Cause secretary and District Road Safety Committee member K. Kathirmathiyon claimed that the Tangedco was not paid over ₹ 50 lakh towards electricity usage of signals in the city for a period of about five years. 

“The issue came to my attention when I met a senior Tangedco official to request to change the tariff of traffic signals from commercial to ‘2A’ (public lighting). Tangedco officials said over ₹ 50 lakh was pending towards the bills of traffic signals and they were in a fix as to how to recover the money and from whom,” said Mr. Kathirmathiyon.

Sources with the Coimbatore City Police and the Coimbatore Municipal Corporation said that they were aware of the non-payment. They added that neither the police nor the Corporation was getting funds to pay electricity bills of signals. Payment of electricity charges of the signals in Coimbatore city stopped after the Madras High Court issued a ban on advertisements and hoardings on traffic signals on October 31, 2017 on a plea filed by Mr. Kathirmathiyon.

He had argued that such advertisements, erected in violation of the guidelines of the Indian Road Congress, were causing accidents and inconvenience to traffic. With advertisements removed following the court order, advertisers stopped payment of electricity bills. Electricity connections of some of the traffic signals in the city are still in the name of advertising companies and private parties, other than a few ones in the name of the City Police Commissioner.

“This is the situation across Tamil Nadu except Chennai, the only city which gets funds for recurring maintenance of traffic signals. In cities like Coimbatore, no Department knows whose duty it is to pay the electricity charges. A query raised under the Right to Information Act revealed that it was not the responsibility of the local bodies, too. The government must take a policy decision on this matter at the earliest and give greater stress to road safety,” Mr. Kathirmathiyon said.