Several roads and lanes in Salt Lake plunge into darkness as soon as the sun sets because the street lights installed there do not work.

The 4km road that connects EM Bypass to Salt Lake has street lights at 20m intervals but none of them is functional.

This road — from the Chingrighata crossing to EE Block, running parallel to the Eastern Drainage Canal — connects several blocks as well as housing complexes of the township, including the Jal Vayu Vihar and Mahavir Vikas complexes, and KB, KC and IC Blocks in Sector III and FF and EE Blocks in Sector II.

To add to the worries of the motorists and pedestrians, construction materials like concrete blocks, sand and iron rods remain scattered on the sides of the road for the ongoing construction of the Airport-New Garia Metro Railway viaduct. It has become tricky for drivers and two-wheeler riders to navigate the road as there are several potholes.

A resident of IC Block, Piyush Agarwal, said at night the entire stretch becomes so dark that spotting the construction items as well as potholes becomes quite difficult.

“The other day one of my neighbours got a flat tire because he drove over an iron rod that was jutting out from the side of the road. We have lodged several complaints with the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation but they have not paid any heed to our pleas,” said Agarwal.

The situation is similar on several lanes of FE Block where many street lights don’t work.

In Sector I, large stretches of the road along the Kestopur canal are completely dark. “We have sent several letters to the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation but no action has been taken,” said Bhaskar Ganguly, a resident of AE Block.

In HA Block, too, a resident said half of the street lights had become defunct and the others were too dim to be of any use.

A section of residents said they had asked candidates from political parties, including Sujit Bose from the Trinamul Congress and BJP’s Sabyasachi Dutta, to do something about the lights.

“They told us that they will ensure that the lights will get fixed but nothing has happened till now,” said one of the residents, who did not wish to be named.

An official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation pointed out several reasons, including shortage of men and the Assembly elections, for the delay in carrying out repairs. “Many of our men are on election duty.”

Another official of the civic body said they would start repairing the lights soon.

“Engineers have been directed to carry out a survey where the lights need to be repaired or replaced,” he added.