Streetlights along several pothole-ridden roads in Salt Lake have not been repaired for over a year now. There are some stretches that even lack a proper street lighting system. Such stretches get extremely dark after sundown. Motorists and pedestrians have to be extremely careful while passing through the roads.
For motorists, driving through Salt Lake at night is nothing short of a nightmare as the potholes are now filled with rainwater. In the absence of proper streetlights, it is impossible to spot a pothole from a distance.
On Sunday, The Telegraph crisscrossed the township and came across multiple stretches where streetlights have stopped working and are peppered with potholes that are filled with rainwater.
The stretch of the First Cross Road that leads to Salt Lake from the New Town-bound flank of the Salt Lake Bypass doesn't have a single streetlight that works.
This road is one of the main entry and exit points of Salt Lake. Every day thousands of vehicles use this road to get into Salt Lake Lake from the Bypass after exiting the Chingrighata flyover.
Streetlights in Salt Lake are placed 15 to 25 feet apart. However, this plan seems to have gone for a toss and roads remain poorly illuminated with each road now having several streetlights that have stopped working.
At several places, the poles that are wrapped up in cables of every kind have either bent or are listing over dangerously on the roads because of their weight.
The area in front of Calcutta University’s Salt Lake campus is a perfect example. There are a number of posts that are hanging dangerously over the road.
The road that leads from Amul Island, adjacent to the Salt Lake stadium, to Canal Bank Road has multiple streetlights that do not function. This road handles a sizable volume of traffic.
A section of the Third Avenue, Bikash Bhavan to City Centre that runs beneath the elevated East-West Metro corridor, turns extremely dark after sundown.
A senior official of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL), which supplies electricity to streetlights and is also responsible for cable maintenance, said that their teams conduct regular checks on streetlight feeders and there are no issues with the electric supply.
"Our supply lines are working fine. The streetlights are not working as they need maintenance as several LED posts and other lighting systems have defunct bulbs and LED," said the official.
An official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation's lighting department said that a tender needs to be called first to replace the lighting systems.
"The tender hasn't been called as of yet. We are making do with whatever LEDs and bulbs we have left in our inventory," said the official.
