CFL lights put up in front of a house at Kalinga Vihar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 28: Streets of Kalinga Vihar on the city outskirts continue to grope in the dark, thanks to an ongoing fight between Bhubaneswar Development Authority and Kalinga Vihar Community Welfare Association.

As most of the residents of Kalinga Vihar are senior citizens, the dark roads of the locality have become a problem for them. Many don’t dare to venture out after sunset.

Though in an interim order on August 1, Orissa High Court asked the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) to restore the streetlights, the situation is still the same after power was snapped on March 26.

The BDA pleaded their helplessness with electricity arrears going up to Rs 24 lakh and the current dues being Rs 1.32 lakh.

“When Orissa High Court asked the BDA in 2009 to collect the streetlight charges from all the plot allottees of Kalinga Vihar, officials of the development body only targeted the association members. Many allottees are yet to occupy their core houses and they do not figure in the association’s membership. But the association members are not responsible for their payment. Also, the BDA did not employ any person to collect the charges individually from all the allottees as directed by the court,” said association president B.B. Samant.

The Rs 24 lakh arrear emerges from all bills since 1999, but the association members alleged that electricity bills were charged for three transformers that were not included in the streetlight service.

“We have written a number of letters to the BDA to explain to us the charges, but they never bothered to reply,’’ Samant said.

“After the interim order of August 1, the authorities started issuing demand notices to high-income group, middle-income group and low-income group allottees to pay Rs 5,140, Rs 3,700 and Rs 2,670 respectively towards collection of arrears. However, we are not sure whether their figure includes both the arrear and the current dues of Rs 1.32 lakh for this year,” said association secretary Nirmal Choudhury.

A senior engineer in charge of electricity supply in the BDA said: “The residents should understand that since the area is yet to be taken under the fold of the municipal corporation, the streetlight service rendered by the BDA has to be appreciated and dues paid. As power is supplied by the distribution company and the BDA has no control over it.”

A senior official of the BDA’s legal section said: “We respect the concern of the allottees. But, we cannot allow the BDA go bankrupt by paying others’ dues. A process has already been started to solve the issue amicably and take the residents into confidence.”