Cuttack, July 20: The state's longest bridge, which chief minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated amid much fanfare yesterday, plunged into darkness immediately after sunset last evening.
An enquiry by The Telegraph revealed that Netaji setu - the newly opened connector between the twin cities over the Kathajodi - would remain a dark corridor at least for six more months as two government agencies - public works department and Cuttack Municipal Corporation - fight over responsibility and funds.
The state government had decided to adopt solar lighting for the 2.81-km bridge. But the public works department (PWD), which has built the bridge, said there was no provision for illuminating the stretch in its sanctioned funds.
The PWD expects the corporation to fund and install the solar-powered street lights, said PWD's roads and buildings (Cuttack) division executive engineer M.R. Khan.
The corporation, on the other hand, expects funds from the PWD for installation and maintenance of street lights on the Rs 114-crore bridge, which took six years to come up.
"An estimate of Rs 2.53 crore was submitted to the roads and buildings (Cuttack) division. But, the plea was turned down over a month ago," said the civic body's executive engineer Manish Sarkar saidtoday.
"We do not have the funds to foot the huge expenditure for providing street lights on the new bridge. So, an estimate was drawn up for it. We expected the PWD to provide the funds on submission of the estimate. But, it did not materialise," chairman of the corporation's standing committee for sanitation, health and electricity Ranjan Kumar Biswal told The Telegraph today.
At long last, the PWD has reportedly decided to provide solar-powered street lights for the entire stretch of the bridge.
"The estimate for it will be ready in the next three to four days. After it is approved, the tender process will be initiated," Khan saidtoday, adding that the street lights would hopefully be installed in six months.
The absence of lights on the bridge has been a major security concern among residents of the twin cities.
"The bridge will become an accident-prone stretch due to poor visibility. It will also become a haven for criminal activities," said Bidanasi resident Satyajit Roy.
"The lack of lights has been a major disappointment for the bridge considered an infrastructure milestone," said Chittaranjan Mohanty, a resident of Markatnagar.Earlier Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated the major road connecting the satellite township - Markatnagar from sector 2 to sector 10 on June 10, 2015, but with no street lights on the 3.6 km stretch. The feeder road for the satellite township remained without lighting till LED streetlights were provided on August 31, 2016.
The PWD's roads and building division in Cuttack spent around Rs 86 lakh for the street lighting by using 204 LED bulbs - two in each of 90 poles and four in the rest six poles at road junctions.
The Commissionerate Police has set up a Police Beat House on both ends of the bridge at CDA square and Trishulia. "With one Havildar, four Constables along with VHF set each Beat House have been kept under the supervision of an Assistant Inspector of Police (ASI). This apart intense mobile police patrolling on the bridge is being ensured", said Nimai Sethi, assistant commissioner of police (Zone-4), Cuttack.
The Police Beat Houses at the Trishulia and CDA square ends have been set up by the police stations at Barang and Markatnagar respectively.
