Bent or half-broken electric poles are hanging over roads across Calcutta and Salt Lake a week after Cyclone Amphan had struck Bengal, posing a risk to commuters.

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) and the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC), the owners of most of these poles in Calcutta and Salt Lake, have not shown any urgency to remove the ones that have been bent or broken.

Firhad Hakim, the chairperson of the board of administrators of the CMC, said on Wednesday evening: “We have started removing the damaged poles. It will take about a week.”

Krishna Chakraborty, the mayor of the BMC, said she would look into the issue.

“As it is, we are facing an uphill task removing trees. Nobody has complained about the poles yet but we will send assessment teams,” she said.

With lockdown restrictions being eased, more and more people are stepping out for work. “Many people could get injured if a bent lamp post triggers an accident. Some might even lose their lives,” said a resident of Ballygunge, where a few lamp posts were found broken on Wednesday.

A police officer said about 30 electric poles had slanted dangerously in the Gariahat-Dhakuria-Southern Avenue-Ballygunge belt. Only five or six were removed till Wednesday.

Broken and slanted poles were spotted in all three sectors of Salt Lake.

A street light hangs precariously over the main road that connects EE block to GD block and broken signal poles lie strewn near the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre on Broadway.

On VIP Road, too, several broken poles were spotted jutting out of the main carriageway at multiple points such as Lake Town, Kaikhali and Dakshindari.

“Over 4,000 poles have been uprooted across Calcutta. We are working on removing them fast. We have also floated tenders for new poles so that no stretch of road remains dark for long,” said a CMC official.

Amphan had uprooted a large number of tress across Calcutta. The CMC took days to remove the trees. The delay led to protests, following which the state government sought the army’s help to cut and remove uprooted trees.

Taratala Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Near BP Poddar Hospital Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Among the other pockets where such poles have been spotted are Rashbehari Avenue, Lansdowne, Esplanade, Chowringhee, Ballygunge, Sovabazar, Shyambazar and Kasba.

“I was crossing Shakespeare Sarani on Tuesday. An electric pole was standing inclined over the road near its crossing with Camac Street. The metal has cracked near the base,” said a banker.

“The pole was inclined and there was every possibility that the rest of the metal could crack, too. In which case, the pole could come crashing down on the road. If it falls on someone, there could be a serious accident.”

On New Alipore’s NR Avenue, at least one lamp post was hanging close to the road. The metal had broken near the middle of the pole. A mesh of wires was hanging from the pole and a part of it was lying on the road.

“We are not going anywhere near the pole and the wires. It is difficult for us to distinguish between an electric wire and a cable TV wire,” said a resident of the area.

In front of the Tipu Sultan mosque in Esplanade, a pole with multiple wires hanging from it stood slanted towards the main road. Motorists and pedestrians were crossing the stretch keeping a safe distance from the pole.