Defunct street lights in areas under the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC), starting with those in Salt Lake, will be repaired and upgraded with brighter LED lights, an official of the civic body said on Wednesday.

The senior official from the parks and lighting department of the civic body said the work will start in the wards of Salt Lake first and then followed by the rest of the wards in the BMC area.

The BMC provides civic services to Salt Lake and areas off VIP Road including Baguiati, Kestopur, Ashwininagar, Kaikhali, Teghoria and parts of Rajarhat.

The civic body also plans to install 820 additional street lights. LED high-mast lights would be installed in some places.

BMC mayor Krishna Chakraborty said a tender for the project has already been
floated.

“We will check and repair the electrical systems and wirings of the defunct street lights. The existing lights will be replaced with brighter LED lights. The work of replacing the lights will start with the wards in Salt Lake, followed by the rest of the wards under the BMC,” Chakraborty said.

Street lights in several parts of Salt Lake have stopped functioning and in places where they still work, overgrown canopies of trees cast shadows on the roads, making it risky for motorists.

Several residents said driving through some of these roads was treacherous because they were dotted with potholes.

At night the potholes are difficult to spot. Motorists have to rely only on the headlights of their vehicles.

Apart from this, dud cables are strewn along several stretches of the road making it extremely dangerous for pedestrians and two-wheeler riders.

Residents of several blocks across Sector I, II and III said they think twice before driving or walking down the stretches after dusk.

The problem drew the attention of chief minister Mamata Banerjee who flagged the issue at a meeting in Nabanna on June 24.

“I am ashamed of Salt Lake. The councillors of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation don’t work. They are the elected body. They don’t sweep the roads. Should I step in and sweep the roads instead? They don’t take care of lights, roads and water supply. Neither do they take care of the problems faced by people,” Mamata had said at the meeting.

The meeting was called weeks after the announcement of the results of the Lok Sabha polls that showed the Trinamool Congress had fared poorly in urban areas.

Salt Lake has 72 blocks spread across Sectors I, II and III. Nearly every block has roads lined with street lights that do not function.

All the street lights on the stretch of the First Cross Road that leads to the Labony Island from Bidhannagar College have stopped working.

Another road where dysfunctional lights have not been restored for the past several months is the Eastern Drainage Canal Road which leads to the Chingrighata intersection from Salt Lake.

This road goes past several residential blocks including EE, FB, KB, KC, and IC and housing complexes such as Mahavir Vikas, and Jal Vayu Vihar among others.

Stretches of the Broadway — that links the township with EM Bypass— also have several stretches where lights have stopped working.

Another stretch of the First Cross Road that leads into Salt Lake from the New Town-bound flank of the Salt Lake Bypass also doesn’t have a single street light that works.

This road is one of the main entry and exit points of Salt Lake and every day thousands of vehicles use this road to get into Salt Lake after exiting Chingrighata flyover.

The main roads as well as lanes in all three sectors of the township are lined with street lights at 20 to 25 metre intervals.

Nearly all the poles are wrapped up in cables of every kind. Most are bent while many list over dangerously on the roads because of their weight.

The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) is in charge of street light repairs and maintenance while the electric supply lines and cable maintenance are taken care of by the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL).