Large patches of Karve Nagar were dimly lit the same night. (Source: Express photo by Pavan Khengre) Large patches of Karve Nagar were dimly lit the same night. (Source: Express photo by Pavan Khengre)

There are many lanes, streets and even main roads where commuters have to grapple with darkness every night as the street lighting is either dysfunctional or patchy. This not only causes inconvenience to travellers, but also gives anti-socials a free run, say locals.

As a Newsline team criss-crossed the city’s roads during late night hours, it found many stretches of roads including arterial roads like J M Road, Karve Road and Pashan Road patchily lit or entirely unlit. At many of these roads, the streetlights are either dysfunctional or are so dim that they fail to illuminate the roads and pavements. The poorly lit Mumbai-Bangalore bypass is infamous for road mishaps.

Also read| Pune: ‘Dark’ side of the city is a nightmare

Less busy roads such as SNDT Road (connecting Karve Road with Law College Road), Riverside Road (Deccan area), Canal Road (connecting Model Colony with FC Road), Shirole Road, Apte Road too have long poorly lit stretches. Although busy roads such as Karve Road, J M Road, King Wellesley Road don’t pose any danger during early hours of the night due to heavy traffic which lights up the road, during late night and wee hours the darkness may prove to be dangerous for road users and a boon for miscreants.

On several roads, street lamps are functional on only one side while the other side is entirely dark.

Residents and road users complained that the dark or insufficiently lit roads was a threat to their safety and security.

Shabnam Chatterjee, (23) who works with a restaurant on F C Road and resides in Pashan, said she often had to take the dimly lit Pashan Road at night and so she preferred to travel in auto-rickshaw than to ride alone on her bike. “The stretch from University Circle to Abhimanshree Society is very dark. Most of the street lamps are not working. Also, the road infamously has numerous speed-breakers. Driving through this stretch of the road during night is terribly dangerous. If I am late, I have to either call up my friend to pick me up or I have to take rickshaw and leave the bike at office. Also, very importantly, there was a lot of digging done on the road, which led to a lot of trouble for us. This, thankfully, has been repaired. But the problem of the bad lighting arrangement persists,” said Chatterjee.

Astha Pawar, resident of NIMB Road who works as a receptionist, complained, “A stretch of about half-a-kilometre on road leading to Mohamamd Wadi from NIBM is very dark. There’s little traffic on the road during night. Mohammad Wadi has two very popular gyms. But if I am alone, I can’t go there. I have wait until my husband returns home and can accompany me.”

According to Pune Traffic Police, one of the major reasons for accidents in the city is poor streetlighting during night.

Sarang Awad, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said, “Some time ago, the traffic police had conducted a study which showed that most of the accidents on city roads happen between 6 pm to 1 am. The most frequently found reason behind these mishaps was that people were in a hurry to reach their residence. Other important factor was lack of proper streetlights in several areas. This is most evident on the accident-prone Mumbai-Pune bypass.”

Awad said the traffic police had been raising this issue with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) authorities regularly. “We take up this issue by PMC during our follow-up meetings,” said Awad.

A senior official with Crime Branch said there was a well-known connection between bad illumination of roads and rise in petty crimes. “Often petty criminals themselves damage the streetlights in some areas and rob passers-by. They have to be repaired soon, which sadly doesn’t happen. The situation is much better in Pimpri-Chinchwad,” said the official who did not wish to be named.

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