This Christmas, many residents would be wishing for illumination on the streets. Several lanes and bylanes in Salt Lake are plunging into darkness as even newly installed LED streetlights have stopped working.
According to sources at the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, Sudhir Saha who used to be in charge of the parks and lighting department, was asked to step down and the department is now being looked after by an executive engineer of the civic body.
Saha too confirmed that he is no longer in charge of the department. He however retains his post of a ward coordinator.
The corporation, he said, had installed LED lights in all 41 wards of the corporation. Several high-mast lamps equipped with high-powered LED streetlights had been installed as well, Saha told The Telegraph.
According to him, work on upgrading the streetlights from the conventional sodium vapour lamps to LED lights had begun from Salt Lake, particularly Ward 29.
“Although we had put up new lights, the wiring is yet to be replaced. We had installed the lights on the existing infrastructure and it is quite possible that electrical faults are taking place due to the old wiring,” said Saha.
He himself had received several complaints about dark streets from his ward that includes EE Block and DL Block and had arranged for immediate repair.
“The lighting system is under several contractors who are responsible for their upkeep. Ward coordinators of relevant areas can call them anytime and ask them to get the lights repaired,” Saha said on hearing of the stretches being in the dark.
The Telegraph drove around the township on Tuesday and found several roads with non-functional lights.
The 4-km road that connects EM Bypass to Salt Lake along the Eastern Drainage Channel has streetlights at 20-metre intervals but none of them works.
This arterial road — starting from the Chingrihata crossing to EE Block — connects several blocks as well as housing complexes of the township, including the Jal Vayu Vihar and Mahavir Vikas complexes, and KB, KC and IC blocks in Sector III, and FF and EE blocks in Sector II. Kendriya Vidyalaya 2 too is on this stretch.
The situation is similar in front of Central Park as the stretch from the Netaji Island till FE Island is dark.
The road that leads from the Mayukh Bhavan gate opposite the statue of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy to Purta Bhavan too has a sole functioning streetlight while all others on the stretch do not work.
Several residents said that due to this they think twice before stepping out or driving in the evenings.
“Most lights inside our block have stopped working, especially on the roads inside the block. I used to go to the market in the evening but have now stopped doing that as it gets so dark after sundown,” said Saswati Chakraborty, a resident of KB Block.
Additional reporting by Debasmita Bhattacharjee
