Long stretches of EM Bypass have had no streetlights for at least a fortnight but the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) has not been able to fix the problem yet.
Dark roads, especially during the monsoon, pose a risk to pedestrians as well as motorists. The civic body’s inability to fix defunct streetlights in a fortnight is only one of the several problems the CMC has been unable to fix despite promises.
Among them are its failure to make footpath-grabber hawkers follow rules, remove thick, menacingly hanging bunches of cables, and bring transparency to parking payments.
Bypass lights
July 10, 2023: This newspaper reported that large stretches of the Bypass were without lights. These included a stretch on the Ambedkar bridge, the Science City-bound flank between Tagore Park and Uttar Panchannagram and opposite Silver Spring.
Now: Over 1km-long stretch between Tagore Park and Uttar Panchannagram was still without lights on Monday evening. This included the VIP Bazaar crossing. The streetlights were working on the Ambedkar bridge and opposite Silver Spring.
Sumantika Choudhury, a public relations professional who regularly drives through the stretch, said: “Many drivers switch on beam lights if there is insufficient illumination. When I am driving in the opposite direction, the bright light makes me squint. It becomes difficult to spot pedestrians.”
Sandip Ranjan Bakshi, mayoral council member in charge of the CMC’s lighting department, said on Tuesday: “We will fix all defunct streetlights along the Bypass in another 15 or 20 days. Work is on and the lights on some stretches have already been fixed.”
On July 10, Bakshi had told this newspaper that the civic body would take up repairs soon. “We will repair some of the lights immediately. A tender will be floated to repair the rest of the lights, but that will take some time as the process is long,” Bakshi had said.
Parking mafia
April 1, 2023: The CMC introduced digital payments of parking fees and announced that cash payments would be discontinued. An app, s-Parking, was launched the same day that promised to show citizens the number of free slots in a parking bay.
Digital payments would stop fleecing by parking attendants, CMC officials said during the launch. Attendants were supposed to use point of sales (POS) machines that would register the entry and exit time. There would be no scope to charge extra money, officials said.
Now: Many Calcuttans told Metro on Monday that parking attendants were taking cash payments almost everywhere in the city. “All parking attendants are insisting on cash payments. No one uses the POS machine,” said a Calcuttan who requested anonymity.
The app is barely used. Since the attendants were not using the machine, the app does not have any updated information.
When this newspaper opened the app on Monday evening, there was no information on booked slots and free slots on a stretch of Rashbehari Avenue.
“Management of parking bays will be allocated to agencies through a fresh tender. Once the allocation is done, we will enforce the use of the app and POS machines,” said a CMC official.
Cables
February 2019: Mayor Firhad Hakim gave seven days to cable operators, internet service providers and multi-system operators (MSOs) to remove defunct overhead cables. He threatened that the civic body would remove the cables if the operators failed to act.
Now: More than four years later, thick bunches of overhead cables are still hanging above many arterial roads. The smaller roads are in worse condition.
The CMC has also banned the use of street poles by the operators who used to tie cables to them. The poles have leaned in many places and also developed cracks under the weight of cables.
Pavements blocked
January 2019: The mayor had said hawkers would not be able to use tarpaulin sheets in their stalls and they could not set up stalls within 50ft of all crossings.
Now: Barring some stretches near the Gariahat crossing, hawkers almost everywhere in the city are using flammable tarpaulin sheets over their stalls.
Hawkers are present within 50ft of all major intersections, including Gariahat, Esplanade, Rashbehari and Hatibagan.
Mayor Firhad Hakim could not be reached over the phone on Tuesday evening. This newspaper called Hakim multiple times but he was either busy in meetings (a person who took the calls a few times said so) or the phone kept ringing.
Metro sent Hakim two questions on WhatsApp.
- You had asked hawkers way back in 2019 to not use plastic and leave 50ft from all crossings. But hawkers are still sitting within 50ft of crossings and also using plastic/tarpaulin sheets. What are the CMC’s plans on this?
- You had asked cable operators/ISPs/MSOs to remove all defunct cables. But there are still thick bunches of cables hanging from street poles almost everywhere. What does the CMC plan to do to fix this problem?
There was no reply till late on Tuesday.
