Street lights around various city thoroughfares and residential streets were fused, easing the path for criminals to operate
Chittagong’s criminals were doing brisk business under the cover of darkness provided by the Chittagong City Corporation’s (CCC) inability to keep roads and alleys well-lit at night, police said.
After a week-long survey of Chittagong by night, the Dhaka Tribune found that darkness prevailed at 48 points on the port city’s roads where severed electric lines and fused light bulbs made it easy to commit crimes.
Police said trouble spots were chronically unlit. The Dhaka Tribune found four street lamps fused from Tigerpass to Kodomtoli road and another two street lights damaged in the Central Railway Building area where three murders and 150 muggings took place in the last seven months.
Murders and muggings take place at night in areas that are dark, Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) Assistant Commissioner Shah Mohammad Abdur Rouf of Kotwali circle said.
Electricity connection wires on Sheikh Mujib road, from Barek Building to Saltgola Crossing adjoining the Chittagong Port area, were severed at several points leaving the much-used areas in the dark.
The Dhaka Tribune found street lights switched off on roads around Jamboree field, Karnaphuli Shishu Park and adjoining areas soon after dusk on two consecutive days.
Police sources said drug peddlers and muggers assaulted commuters with impunity in unlit areas.
Street lights around various city thoroughfares and residential streets were fused, easing the path for criminals to operate, police sources said.
On June 27, at around 10pm, businessman Afjal Hossain was returning home from his office when muggers robbed him at gunpoint in the Tigerpass area. He was stopped by another gang of thieves in Serson road, near his residence, and beaten mercilessly when they found he had nothing left to be looted.
Both assault sites, equipped with street lamps, were dark because the lights had been switched off, he said.
CMP Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operation) Banaz Kumar Majumder said crime in these areas would be reduced if street lights operated properly.
“Criminals love to work in the dark and mobile police teams are helped by good lighting,” he said.
Superintendent engineer (Electrical) of the CCC, Mahfuzul Haq, said repair work of damaged lights and electricity connections was a continuous process but admitted there were delays because of manpower shortages. The CCC manages some 47,000 lights, of which 41,000 are street lamps of various types and the rest are in offices, schools and marketplaces.
Councillor for the CCC’s 12th ward, Babul Haque, who is also the chief of the city corporation electrical affairs standing committee, said 100 tube lights were supplied to each ward every month and two mechanics and four helpers were assigned to every ward for maintenance work.
“Repair work has been delayed due to the rainy season, but we are actively on the job. There aren’t any bureaucratic complexities in this process,” he said. He said street lights in areas hit hard by crime would be fixed.
Source: Dhaka Tribune