Non-functioning streetlights at Bhikhari Thakur Pool area near Bihar Assembly in Patna. Picture by Jai Prakash

The Patna Municipal Corporation is planning to invite fresh ward-wise bids to install 50 streetlights each in 72 wards as no private firm came forward to bid for a tender floated by the civic body recently.

The new tenders are likely to be floated by April 5.

The proposal to invite the bidders for separate wards was made during the civic body’s empowered standing committee meeting on Wednesday.

“The civic body has proposed to put up 50 streetlights each in all 72 wards under the corporation area. The project would entail an expenditure of around Rs 73 lakh. We hope that smaller agencies will be interested in taking up the work on a ward-wise basis,” mayor Afzal Imam said.

Nearly two months ago, the committee had recommended that tenders be floated for installing streetlights at a cost of Rs 2,050 each.

In another decision, all 15 Bihar Rajya Jal Parishad engineers have been given the additional charge to work for the civic body.

The step has been taken to augment the short- staffed engineering section of the civic body.

Shortage of engineers in the civic body has resulted in a slow pace of works in almost every new project and scheme.

While the sanctioned strength of junior engineers in the civic body is 118, only six of them are working. Similarly, against 34 posts of assistant engineers, the body has to make do with only five. Sanctioned number of executive engineers is 10 while the department has only two.

All these proposals will be put up before civic body’s board meeting on Thursday, during its second meeting this year. The proposed budget for the financial year 2012-13 will also be discussed in the meeting before being forwarded to the state government.