OR
(B) You are Nirmala / Nirmal, a resident of Jhunjhunu Colony. Recently there have been a series of accidents and petty crimes in your colony. One of the reasons is poor street lighting. Write a letter to the Commissioner of the Works department, drawing attention to the urgent need to install street lights to avoid further crimes and accidents.
OR
(B) You are Nirmala / Nirmal, a resident of Jhunjhunu Colony. Recently there have been a series of accidents and petty crimes in your colony. One of the reasons is poor street lighting. Write a letter to the Commissioner of the Works department, drawing attention to the urgent need to install street lights to avoid further crimes and accidents.
Nirmala/Nirmal
House No. 24, Jhunjhunu Colony
Jhunjhunu – 333001
3 January 2026
The Commissioner
Works Department
Municipal Corporation
Jhunjhunu
Subject: Urgent Request for Installation of Street Lights in Jhunjhunu Colony
Sir/Madam,
I am a resident of Jhunjhunu Colony and wish to draw your urgent attention to a serious safety concern in our locality. Over the past few months, the colony has witnessed a disturbing rise in accidents and petty crimes such as chain-snatching, particularly after sunset.
The major reason behind this trend is the poor street lighting in the colony. Several lamp posts have remained non-functional for months, leaving stretches of the main road and inner lanes in near darkness. This makes residents, especially women, children and the elderly, highly vulnerable to theft and accidents while returning home in the evening.
I request you to kindly depute officials to inspect the area at the earliest and arrange for urgent repair and installation of street lights, to restore the safety of residents of Jhunjhunu Colony.
Thanking you,
Yours truly,
Nirmala/Nirmal
Marking Scheme
- 1Format — 1 mark: correct sender address, date, receiver's designation/department, subject line, salutation and complimentary close.
- 2Content — 2 marks: clear description of the problem (accidents/petty crimes), the identified cause (poor street lighting), and a specific request for remedial action.
- 3Expression/Language — 2 marks: formal, polite and persuasive register, grammatical accuracy, and appropriate word limit (approx. 100–120 words).
Hint
Follow the formal letter-to-authority format and clearly connect the specific cause (poor lighting) to the specific effect (crimes/accidents) before making a direct, polite request for action.
Quick Oral Answer
A letter to the Commissioner about street lighting should clearly state the problem of rising crime and accidents, link it directly to poor lighting, and make a specific, polite request for urgent repair and installation of lights.
Analysis & Explanation
This task tests writing a formal letter of request/complaint to a civic authority about poor street lighting causing accidents and petty crimes.
Format requirements
- Sender's address, date, receiver's official designation/department, subject line, formal salutation, before a persuasive, well-organised body.
Content structure
- State the problem clearly (rise in accidents and petty crimes).
- Identify the specific cause (poor/non-functional street lighting).
- Make a direct, polite request for remedial action, naming urgency and vulnerable groups affected.
Common mistakes
- Requesting action ('please install lights') without justifying the cause-effect link to crime/accidents.
- Omitting the subject line or writing overly long paragraphs that dilute the request.
- Using a persuasive-to-the-public tone (as in a letter to the editor) instead of a direct, solution-focused tone suited to an authority.
Common Mistakes
- 1Writing to the Commissioner in a persuasive, opinion-based tone (as one would to a newspaper editor) rather than a direct, request-based tone appropriate for an authority.
- 2Not explicitly linking poor street lighting as the cause of the accidents/crimes, which weakens the justification for the request.
- 3Missing the subject line or writing an incomplete/incorrect receiver's designation (e.g., addressing 'The Editor' instead of 'The Commissioner, Works Department').
Interesting Facts
Many Indian municipal corporations run dedicated 'streetlight helpline' or app-based complaint systems today, showing that letters like this reflect a genuine, still-relevant civic action students may need in real life.
Studies by urban safety researchers consistently show that improved street lighting can reduce night-time crime rates in residential areas by double digits, validating the cause-effect argument this letter is built on.
CBSE's functional/formal letter writing tasks to civic authorities (Commissioner, SHO, Municipal Corporation) are designed to build citizenship skills — teaching students how to formally seek redressal for community problems.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How is this letter different from a letter to the editor?
A letter to an authority (like the Commissioner) is addressed directly to the implementing official and should be action/request-focused, whereas a letter to the editor is addressed to a newspaper and is more opinion/persuasion-focused for public readership.
What details must be included to justify the request?
The letter should specifically mention the rise in accidents and petty crimes, identify poor/non-functional street lighting as the cause, and note vulnerable groups (women, children, elderly) affected, before requesting urgent installation/repair.
What should the subject line say?
It should be precise and action-oriented, e.g., 'Urgent Request for Installation of Street Lights in Jhunjhunu Colony'.