Security: KMC lighting teams survey ‘dark zones’ in city

Kolkata: On the instructions of Mayor Firhad Hakim, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) team from the lighting department is surveying all ‘dark zones’ within its jurisdiction and fixing the street lights which have become non-functional or installing where there aren’t any.

The direction by the Mayor comes in the wake of complaints from citizens from various corners of the city that street lights have remained non-functional. Following this, the Mayor said that engineers and sub-engineers of the lighting department will survey their respective areas and note the number of lights which are dysfunctional.

The member mayor in council (MMIC) of the Lighting department Sandip Bakshi told the media that the Mayor wants issues such as lack of illumination addressed before citizens’ complaints reach him during the Talk to Mayor programme. The MMIC said the steps were taken to address such lighting issues in certain added areas of the civic body, especially Ward 127.

Citizens have often questioned the civic body’s reasoning pertaining to the installation of street lights since certain stretches of the city remain dark while some of the stretches have more than necessary lights.

Sources said sometimes citizens request the removal of lights in stretches where there are more than adequate lights installed since it allegedly affects their sleep patterns.

Further, it was learnt that these dark zones which remain devoid of light also quickly turn into anti-social dens which include drinking and gambling on the road. This disturbs peace in the area. One such example are the neighbourhoods which are away from the link road at EM Bypass. There are several dark zones in these areas.

The Mayor is also learnt to have directed that on receiving complaints against dysfunctional lights, the department should ensure it is acted upon with immediate effect.