The BEST Undertaking is responsible for the upkeep of streetlights in the city, but it seems to have kept Mumbai in the dark regarding how it is spending taxpayers’ money on such work. After the BMC was caught siphoning off crores under the pretext of maintaining roads and nullahs, it is now feared that the BEST might be involved in a streetlight scam after it quoted grossly inflated costs for painting streetlights. The Undertaking will now order an inquiry into the money it has spent in the last 10 years on painting light poles across the city.

A worker painting a streetlight at Kidwai Marg in Sewri. File pic/Atul Kamble