On July 24, three people died and 12 others were injured after a tree fell on a passenger bus and a scooter in Bhaktapur.

The incident caught the attention of the Division Forest Office which took immediate action to cut a few trees down along the Sallaghari road section. The forest office said it would examine other trees on roadsides to prevent similar mishaps.

However, the public is still at risk of getting caught in such accidents caused by decades-old derelict street lamp posts standing sentinel along several road stretches in the Valley.

These street lamps with huge heads can be mostly seen along the Thapathali-Tripureshwar and Singha Durbar-Putalisadak road sections. None of the authorities seems to have taken into account the dangers these free-standing lamp posts pose for those walking past them.

“Every time I notice a street light, I look up. I notice that the part that covers the light bulb looks like it’s hanging by a thread,” said Pradip Yadav, 22, a pedestrian. “The head could fall off anytime on anyone causing not just injury but also instant death. It’s very dangerous to be walking near these street lights.”

Yadav, who for the past three months has been using public transport from Thapathali to Satdobato, says he constantly looks up to check the street lights while waiting for a bus.

Most of the street lights have been defunct for over a decade and new solar lamp posts have been erected in some areas, but the old poles have not been removed.

“I have been seeing them for over three years now,” said Chandra Thapa Chhetri, a traffic constable who is assigned to manage traffic at Thapathali. “I am sure if the cover falls, it will cause major injury.”

In 2019, the Post had reported about the broken lamps along the Singha Durbar-Putalisadak road that kept the main administrative hub of Nepal in darkness. Over three years have passed since and those lamps have still not been repaired.

Nabin Manandhar, spokesperson of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, said he was not aware of the derelict street lamps posing threat to passers-by. “If that poses a threat to citizens in Kathmandu, the municipal officials should take care of it. I will definitely talk with the infrastructure department of the City,” said Manandhar.

He, however, said the responsibility of fixing the defunct lamps on the main road sections is that of the Nepal Electricity Authority.

The Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police has shown concerns over the issue although the maintenance and repair of street lamps are not in its jurisdiction. “It is a big concern to us if derelict street lamps are posing a major threat to the public whether they are on foot or a motorbike,” said Deputy Inspector General Mira Chaudhari, also the head of traffic police. “I will visit all these areas and talk to the NEA as this issue falls under their jurisdiction.”

Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai, spokesperson for the Nepal Electricity Authority, says he too is not aware of the issue. “I am out of the office at the moment. I will inquire about the possible hazards and inconveniences those poles have caused,” said Bhattarai. He, however, said it’s the Kathmandu Metropolitan City that should remove the derelict street lights if that is causing inconvenience to the public.

Rajunath Pandey, the newly-elected chief of the City Police (municipal police), said that he only recently joined the division, so the issue has not come to his notice yet. “I will inquire and do the needful to address this problem,” Pandey said.