A lamp post on a crowded Central Avenue was cordoned off on Tuesday evening after sparks were seen coming out of the pole.
Police cordoned off the lamp post near Yogayog Bhawan with guardrails and alerted CESC, the power utility service provider that supplies electricity to the majority of the lamp posts in the city.
The police said all lamp posts in the city are maintained by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
CESC officials said a team visited the spot and found that the spark had originated from the wires of a private cable television line.
“Neither the light post belongs to CESC nor was the spark reported from any of the CESC cables. All our cables are underground. The spark was reported from a private cable company’s wires,” said a CESC official on Tuesday night.
The official added that no “major issue” was found on the spot.
Officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation did not take any call from this newspaper on Tuesday evening.
The police said they were alerted about “sparks coming out of the lamp post” near Yogayog Bhawan soon after which a team of cops from Bowbazar police station went to the spot and cordoned off the lamp post.
The stretch where the lamp post reportedly started malfunctioning usually remains crowded with pedestrians and footpath dwellers who stay nearby.
Several policemen said the lamp post could have become a cause of concern and a source of electrocution had it not been cordoned off in time.
After the visit of the CESC official, the local cable operator whose wires were running overhead was called and asked to repair the connections.