A stretch of Third Avenue, from Bikash Bhavan to City Centre that runs underneath the elevated East-West Metro corridor, plunges into darkness after sundown as none of the street lights along the route works.
Third Avenue connects Karunamoyee, the busiest traffic intersection in the township, with City Centre and passes through the office district that houses hundreds of government offices in Salt Lake.
Even six months ago, the stretch below the elevated Metro corridor used to have LED street lights but now the stretch brightens up only when vehicles pass with their headlights on.
At night the stretch turns treacherous for motorists as well as pedestrians.
“There are multiple speed breakers along the stretch and unsuspecting motorists often have to slam their brakes at the last moment as it is nearly impossible for drivers to spot them from at a distance,” a traffic police officer posted along the stretch said.
Residents of several blocks, including DB, CF and BF, said that the lights had stopped working several months back and have not been repaired till now.
“While driving through the stretch is a problem, we now avoid walking through this road as it is extremely dark. The darkness is a perfect cover for criminals to pounce on us,” said Komal Agarwal, a resident of BF block.
A senior officer of the Bidhannagar Commissionerate said that well-lit streetsact as deterrents for crimes, especially snatching andmolestation bids amongothers.
In Salt Lake, the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation is in charge of the maintenance of street lights, while the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) is responsible for the maintenance of cables and electricity supply to the street lights.
A senior WBSEDCL official said all their supply lines to street lights were fine as they conduct regular checks and one such check has been conducted a few days back. The check did indicate any fault in the supply lines along Third Avenue, he said.
A senior official of the lighting department of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation said that they will send teams to check andrepair the lights wherever required.
“We will send teams and conduct repairs urgently,” the official said.