High-mast lamps meant for busy road crossings illuminate a residential locality in Tiljala Lane on Tuesday evening. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

There is light at the end of the tunnel for Tiljala Lane — so much of it that residents now long for a few hours of darkness.

The bright spark who has showered this largesse of light on the residents and robbed them of their sleep is local councillor Sushil Kumar Sharma, the mayoral council member for lighting who was allegedly missing in action until elections switched him back on.

Sharma, of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), got 50-odd street lights installed in this part of ward 65 barely two weeks ago and another 16 halogen lamps in a nearby park maintained by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation. Residents say that’s far too much light for comfort after five years of darkness, literally and figuratively.

“Our esteemed local councillor was nowhere to be seen in the past five years. Now that he needs to make his presence felt, he has put up lights where we don’t need them,” complained Mohammad Sabir, a resident of Tiljala Lane.

A 45ft tall mast with high-power lights now stands in the middle of Ghasbagan Bustee, creating a luminous landscape of buildings that glow in the dark while those inside struggle to sleep till the wee hours.

According to a civic official, high-mast lights are meant for key road crossings rather than residential areas. “One fails to understand the logic behind installing high-mast lamps in the heart of a locality where several street lights have already been put up,” he said.

The civic body has spent Rs 3.75 lakh on installing the high-mast lights alone.

For Sharma, the election-eve expenditure is a way of showing that he cares — for the children of the locality who he wants to see playing under the lights and the voters who he hopes will enjoy spending their evenings chatting outside.

So why didn’t he come up with this bright idea earlier?

“This has not been done with an eye on the elections. This was part of our illumination plan for roads and parks across the city,” protested Sharma.

Records available with the CMC show that no other locality in the city has yet been showered with so much light.

But are the residents happy? “The CMC’s lighting unit was least bothered after faulty street lights before the elections were announced,” said a resident.

Abu Rehan, 55, said he was sure the lights would go out once the civic polls were over. “It’s like a marriage in the neighbourhood right now. When it’s over, darkness will descend once again.”

The CMC spends around Rs 3.8 crore a month on illuminating the city’s roads.