(Clockwise from top) Fire Station Road near the Siripur Square has been in the dark for the past one year as the authorities are yet to erect poles for street lights, the stretch from Ravi Talkies to Sai Temple Road is dimly lit as local residents have put some lights on their own to help the commuters and the Chandrasekharpur stretch of the airport-Nandankanan Road remains inadequately lit as street lights are defunct in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 11: Large parts of the city plunge into darkness after sunset though the municipal corporation boasts of having installed energy efficient LED lamps at three places.

The areas without street lights include New Airport Square-Fire Station Square, Nalco Square to Kalinga Hospital, Chandrasekharpur petrol pump, Mancheswar-Chakeisiani Road, Jatri Nivas to Kalpana Square, Ravi Talkies to Sai Temple Road and Palaspalli flyover to Pokhariput level crossing along Bhimatangi.

While light posts are yet to be set up on the stretch between New Airport Square and Fire Station Road, in the other areas, poles exist but they are yet to be fitted with light bulbs. Gandamunda resident Damodar Mohanty said the electrical engineering wing of the BMC was not paying any attention to the problem that had led to accidents in the area.

“The Delta Square-Fire Station stretch is vital for those passing under the yet-to-be-completed NH flyover at the Fire Station Square and for those going towards the agriculture university from Baramunda. But the civic authorities are yet to put up light posts on the stretch,” said Mohanty.

At times, when there are no traffic cops near the NH-5 flyover, the chaos on the square becomes more visible. “The civic authorities should erect street light poles along the stretch and also install high mast lights there,” said Mrutyunjay Tripathy, a resident of Soubhagya Nagar. He also added that four to six accidents take place every week near the Fire Station Square.

Pokhariput resident Rashmi Das said at least six cases of snatching had been reported from Pokhariput, Bhaktamadhu Nagar, Gandamunda and Jagmohan Nagar. The street lights between Ananta Vihar Phase I and Gandamunda have been lying defunct for the past six months.

City traffic inspector Deba Mallick said: “The lack of street lights may lead to accidents and to make areas vulnerable to crimes such as chain snatching. We have reported this to the civic authorities at the monthly city management group meeting. However, we have no specific data on accidents occurring in the stretches where street lights are absent.”

Subhranshu Patnaik, who lives near Nalco Square, said the main road between the square and Kalinga Hospital had been dark for a month. The area houses several big hotels.

Senior councillor Amaresh Jena admitted that almost every part in the city was suffering from street light inadequacy and the maximum number of grievances registered with the civic body were concerning street lights.

“We have a single assistant engineer and a junior engineer, but considering our workload, the municipal corporation should have at least two assistant engineers and six to eight junior engineers. Moreover, six to eight hydraulic ladders are required for repair and maintenance work, but we only have two ladders for the 67 wards,” Jena said.

Assistant engineer (electrical) Ajit Kumar Behera told The Telegraph that the civic body had already requested the state government to provide more junior engineers so that work could be speeded up.

Chandrasekharpur resident Kulamani Behera said: “The lack of street lights on the important airport-Nandankanan road speaks volumes of the corporation’s lack of concern. They should urgently employ more people to share the workload.”

In a related development, the use of LED lights on the stretch between BJB College and Samantarapur has been criticised by local residents. “The usual sodium vapour lights were appropriate for the road as the new LED lights are not providing enough light,” said Sanjay Nayak, a resident of Nageswar Tangi.

Till date, the civic body has converted between 450 and 500 street lights into LED lights. It plans to change all the 15,000 street lights into the LED ones in a phased manner.