Bhubaneswar, Aug. 22: The municipal corporation has begun the process of installing street lights at city's dark stretches.

To begin with, the civic has started work on the stretch between Fire Station Square and Siripur Square. Later, the corporation will light up Jagamara road and the stretch in front of Sum Hospital.

On May 8 and August 4, The Telegraph had reported on the status of these stretches and the problems faced by the commuters because of the absence of street lights. "I am happy they are finally installing the lights," said Dibakar Mishra, who runs a shop at Fire Station Square.

The stretch between Fire Station and Siripur Square is important because it connects to the NH-5. "The Fire Station Square is not so wide and the absence of street lights often confuse people who are not very familiar with the area. The lights will be especially helpful for such people," said Brijesh Mohanty, a resident of Jagamara.

The state government launched the ambitious Unnati scheme on August 3 under which the dark stretches will be lighted up and street lights that use mercury bulbs replaced with energy-efficient LEDs.

The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) will do the job on behalf of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.

"Our officials have collaborated with the EESL and started identifying the stretches that do not have the street lights. Simultaneously, they have begun started the installation too. All the stretches in the city - be it the main roads or the internal ones - will get the LEDs under the Unnati scheme of the state government," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

He said after installation of the street lights on the main roads, the focus would shift to the internal ones. "There are several areas, especially the internal road in various localities, which still use the traditional mercury lights. The councillors have been asked to come up with the list of such stretches," said the mayor.

Besides, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority has also floated a tender for installation of LED lights at Kalinga Vihar.

"Kalinga Vihar is a locality developed by us and it is our duty to provide quality infrastructure to them. We are extending the services to them in a phased manner," said an official of the development authority.

"Our area is deprived of good street lights, roads and drainage system. The civic body does not have the right to provide the service here and the development authority had not being doing anything. Fortunately, they have now started extending the services in phased manner," said Kalinga Vihar resident Sita Mishra.