Identify poorly-lit roads, says Mayor Firhad Hakim to Kolkata Municipal Corporation
Telegraph | 30 December 2024
Mayor Firhad Hakim has asked the lighting department officials of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to prepare a roster of engineers who will go around the city after sundown to spot stretches without lights or adequate illumination.
Hakim asked the mayoral council member and chief engineer of KMC’s lighting department to create a mechanism so that engineers of the department go around roads under their jurisdiction and know if any road had problems with illumination.
“You can’t go around the city, but the assistant engineers and sub-assistant engineers can visit the roads,” Hakim was heard telling the chief engineer during the weekly phone-in programme Talk to Mayor.
The mayor’s instruction came after a caller from Behala’s Kashtodanga, in Ward 127, complained about a street light in the area not functioning since November. The caller said he informed civic body officials about the defunct street light but has been only receiving assurances.
Later, Sandip Ranjan Bakshi, the mayoral council member of KMC’s lighting department, told Metro that the mayor wants such problems to be solved by the department itself.
“The mayor wants such problems like lack of illumination should be addressed even before they reach the Talk to Mayor programme. We will try doing that. We have already convened a meeting specific to Ward 127 as too many complaints regarding street lights have come from this ward,” said Bakshi.
Many stretches of several roads in the city are poorly lit. KMC sources said sometimes the street lights stop working. In some other instances, there is an inadequate number of street lights.
“I have also come across roads where one stretch is well-illuminated while some other stretch is dark or without adequate illumination. The KMC should address these problems along with illuminating stretches or roads that are completely dark,” said a south Calcutta resident.