The board of administrators in Mirik municipality — Darjeeling district’s smallest urban body — will illuminate streets and roads of the hill town and build and repair some roads of the civic area.

The state urban development and municipal affairs department has sanctioned Rs 1 crore for street lights and another Rs 2.5 crore for new roads in all nine wards of the municipality.

“We will install 330 street lights across the civic area. The work will commence from today (Sunday) and we hope the lights will be put in place ahead of the upcoming festive season,” said L.B. Rai, chairman of the board of administrators, as he laid the foundation stone of the project on Sunday.

The tiny hill station, around 50km from here, is one of the popular tourist spots of Darjeeling hills especially for a day visit.

Surrounded by lush green tea estates, Mirik also draws tourists to its Sumendu Lake in the heart of the town.

To build and repair roads, the civic body has floated a tender, said Rai.

“We will open the bids by the end of this month and will assign the work then. In each ward, a principal thoroughfare would be built and some repair works would be taken up,” he added.

Shringla aid

Harsh Vardhan Shringla, a former foreign secretary of the country and chief coordinator of G20 India, helped underprivileged families in seven villages in Phoobsering of Darjeeling hills on Sunday.

Shringla, also the president of Darjeeling Welfare Society, a social organisation, said the initiative to hand over essential items and clothes to the families was taken so that they can celebrate the upcoming Dashain festival.

“The society will continue to work for the underprivileged and marginalised people of the hills through such humble assistance,” Shringla, who has his roots in Darjeeling, said.