Pune: Plans afoot to get overhead cables shifted underground

Dangling overhead cables that impede the view to the sky could also be a factor of the previous within the New 12 months, with the municipal company chalking out steps to put in them underneath the bottom.

A survey has discovered practically 7,500km-long cables criss-crossing the Pune Municipal Company (PMC) areas in opposition to the civic physique’s coverage. The non-public mobile and web service supplier firms must shift all these overhead cables within the ducts underneath the streets.

In response to PMC officers, the TV firms, cellphone companies and web service suppliers have put within the cables. The PMC has approached and requested them to finish the method of shifting these cables. A non-public company has been appointed for the survey. It will likely be a steady course of.

The areas the place ducts should not accessible, PMC will permit the companies to dig up the roads. The companies involved must pay the road-digging and restoration fees. “These companies should come ahead and ensure the cables utilized by their companies. If no person comes to say the cable in a specific space, PMC will minimize that cable. It will likely be termed as unlawful,” stated V G Kulkarni, the top of the PMC’s highway division.

He stated the companies should come and provides the timetable for changing the overhead cables to underground cables. The timetable will likely be yearly.
In response to PMC, it fees round Rs13,000 per km for highway digging and restoration fees. The companies must pay 10% as advance earlier than digging up the roads for conversion.

The civic activists claimed that the initiative to advertise underground cabling was good, however the entire conversion didn’t appear possible. If correct precautions should not taken, it could promote road-digging and corruption. This in the end causes struggling to widespread residents.

“The precedence ought to be given to shift the cables within the ducts. This will likely be much less troublesome for folks. In any other case, commuters will likely be hassled with dug up roads,” stated Vivek Velankar of Sajag Nagrik Manch, a residents discussion board.

In response to activists, some politicians have used road-digging and restoration as a supply of revenue. They’ve helped in letting the companies lay the cables with out correct permissions. The brand new coverage mustn’t promote such practices.

“The quantity to be paid for conversion is large from overhead to underground. So, many telecom firms is not going to want to pay this quantity. Therefore, the conversion is just not very possible. Precautions are a should to make sure that the initiative doesn’t result in a brand new supply of malpractice,” stated Sudarshan Yadav, a guide for mobile firms and cable operators. The Times of Truth