Five roads in the heart of the city are dimly lit and dangerous, police have alerted the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).
The police have said that stretches of Casuarina Avenue, Kidderpore Road, Outram Road, Dufferin Road and Strand Road become so dark that surveillance, physical or electronic, proves to be difficult.
Motorists have only their headlights to rely on to spot pedestrians on these stretches, a senior police officer told The Telegraph.
“Most of these roads are lined with trees and inadequate illumination on certain stretches makes policing a challenging task,” said the officer.
“Outram Road in the Maidan, for instance, has pedestrians walking along both flanks towards Red Road and Park Street. Lack of illumination makes these stretches accident-prone.”
Traffic and transportation engineers said poorly-lit stretches exist across Kolkata. Irregular and unscientific pruning of trees makes matters worse.
The roads are especially risky for women and the elderly.
Vehicles taking a turn from Red Road towards Outram Road often can’t spot in the dark groups of people waiting at the bend to board buses.
Senior police officers pointed out that the turn towards Kidderpore Road from the junction of Red Road and Casuarina Avenue also turn critical at night.
Vehicles move at a high speed on this stretch and since the spot is poorly illuminated, motorists often find it difficult to negotiate the turn towards Kidderpore Road, a traffic police officer said.
“Casuarina Avenue, which cuts through the Maidan, is lined with trees. During winter, thick smog settles on this road and poor illumination makes it challenging for motorists to drive,” the officer said. “This holds true for motorists driving down Kidderpore Road as well.”
The KMC had last year identified over 30 roads that either had no light or were lowly lit. No-light and low-light zones are places where there are long gaps between two street lights or where a considerable stretch does not have any light at all.
“We have started installing lights on roads that have been identified as no-light or low-light zones,” said Sandip Bakshi, the mayoral council member in charge of the KMC’s lighting department.
A drive through some of these roads in the evening revealed how dark the thoroughfares really become.
Lights from the lampposts on Outram Road was inadequate. The lampposts on the divider along Kidderpore Road failed to illuminate a major part of the artery. On Casuarina Avenue, there were several dark patches with no trace of illumination.
“The stretch of Strand Road from Hastings to the HRBC office is also ill-lit. We hope the KMC will take note of our alert and take necessary steps to arrange for better illumination,” the officer said.
Streetlights in Kaikhali
Streetlights will be repaired on a stretch behind the airport that leads to Gopalpur from Kaikhali. The lights had stopped working last year, said sources in the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation.