Cuttack, Aug. 17: The roads and buildings (Cuttack) division has submitted a Rs 3.6-crore proposal to install solar-powered lights on Netaji Setu, which turns dark after sundown.

On July 19, chief minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the new link between the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar and named it after Subhas Chandra Bose. Built across the Kathajodi, the 2.81-km-long bridge, which is the state's longest such facility, plunges into darkness after sunset as lights are yet to be installed.

The Telegraph had carried a detailed report in its July 21 edition about the fight that had erupted between the public works department and the Cuttack Municipal Corporation over who should fund the street-light project. However, the state government is yet to take any decision on the proposal.

"Tender process for installation of the street lights on the bridge will be initiated only after approval of the estimate," an official of the roads and buildings (Cuttack) division told The Telegraph on condition of anonymity.

It took the public works department six years and nearly Rs 114 crore to built the bridge. But no provision for street lights was made in the funds sanctioned for construction of the bridge as the Cuttack Municipal Corporation was expected to install them at its cost.

But, when the Cuttack Municipal Corporation pleaded funds crunch, the state government entrusted the job of installing solar-powered street lights on the bridge to the public works department.

Accordingly, the roads and buildings (Cuttack) division, which is under the public works department, submitted the estimate proposal for the solar-powered street lights for the bridge a fortnight ago. But, there has been a delay in approval of the estimate as the public works department is now learnt to be weighing the options of cost involved in installing electric lights vis-à-vis solar lights.

"The department has been considering the alternative after a comparison of an estimate proposal with electrical street lighting showed that the latter would cost at least 40 per cent less," said the official.

The state government had decided that the Cuttack Municipal Corporation would bear the maintenance cost after the street lights were installed on the bridge.

"We were not able to install the street lights at our own costs because we do not have the funds required to foot the huge expenditure. But the maintenance of the street lights after their installation will not be any problem for us," said Ranjan Kumar Biswal, chairman of the civic body's standing committee for sanitation, health and electricity.

The delay in lighting up the bridge has been cause for concern as lighting and security are the two major aspects involving safety of commuters on the bridge which for residents of western parts of the city has reduced by 12 kms the distance to Bhubaneswar.

"Absence of lights in the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Setu is a great disappointment as it is touted by the State government as an infrastructure milestone", said Pradip Sahu, a resident of Talatelenga Bazar.

The three-lane two-way bridge only of its kind in the state has footpath on both sides for pedestrians and cyclists.