This story is from June 4, 2020

How Kolkata saved its high mast lights from cyclone Amphan

As images of lamp posts, bent or half-broken by Amphan, went viral, you could be wondering why some of the showpiece high-masts are still standing tall. Here’s the secret: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the airport authorities acted in advance and dismantled these lights, knowing that the high velocity winds could damage them beyond repair and cause accidents.
How Kolkata saved its high mast lights from cyclone Amphan
KMC’s lighting department decided to bring down the lamps seven days before the monstrous cyclone came pounding
KOLKATA: As images of lamp posts, bent or half-broken by Amphan, went viral, you could be wondering why some of the showpiece high-masts are still standing tall. Here’s the secret: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the airport authorities acted in advance and dismantled these lights, knowing that the high velocity winds could damage them beyond repair and cause accidents.

Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC), for instance, started disassembling the lights on the morning of May 19. Towering at 16m to 32m, the lights emitting powerful white rays are touted to be energy savers. "The 40 high-mast street lights in Salt Lake were disassembled on 19th morning. We have thus not only saved monetary loss, but prevented accidents," BMC commissioner Debashish Ghosh told TOI.
The bright high-masts that have now become characteristic of the township, were mostly installed in October 2014 after chief minister Mamata Banerjee expressed displeasure of the ill-lit Salt Lake’s stretches while attending the Indian Soccer League opener. Soon afterwards eight high-mast were placed around the gates of Salt Lake stadium.
KMC’s lighting department decided to bring down the lamps seven days before the monstrous cyclone came pounding. "We started the process seven days before, completed it two days before Amphan hit Kolkata," an electrical department official at KMC said. The civic body managed to save as many as 100 high-mast poles across the city. KMC maintains 50 such high-mast poles. Other government agencies like KMDA, PWD or HRBC look after the rest.
At the airport, too, the metal halide lights on 40 high masts in the apron area were lowered ahead of the cyclone to avoid damage. After the cyclone blew over, the lights were raised and checked. None had suffered a damage despite the airport recording the maximum wind speed of 133kmph.
Some of city areas where high-mast poles were saved include Esplanade (near Metro cinema), Brabourne Road, Maniktala, Ultadanga, APC Roy Road, AJC Bose Road- Hazra crossing, Park Street, Rabindra Sadan, Taratala, Alipore, Kidderpore Behala, Raja SC Mullick Road and Ranikuthi.

But then, several couldn’t be dismantled and are now posing the biggest threat to passers-by. You could spot these slanted lamp posts in New Alipore, Lansdowne, Esplanade, Ballygunge, Shymbazar and elsewhere, hanging precariously over the roads. They could give away any moment because the metal in the middle has broken. Wire meshes are hanging from these poles. Broken poles (not the high-mast ones) are also lying around in some blocks of Salt Lake.
Officials of KMC’s lighting department and BMC said it will take some time to attend to these since the civic body is busy with neighbourhoods that are still plunged in darkness. “The first priority was to restore electricity in the residential houses. Now we are concentrating on the street lamps,” a lighting department official at KMC said.
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