Deadly hanging cables! City's safety now in a noose
An innocent pedestrian has already fallen victim to one such cable on Double Road.
Optic Fibre Cables that dangle from trees, electric poles and advertising display boards have turned Bengaluru roads into virtual death traps. An innocent pedestrian has already fallen victim to one such cable on Double Road, but the OFC mafia is in no mood to slow down. Aknisree Karthik digs deep to find out how OFC companies do not hesitate to resort to any dirty trick in the book to keep digging roads and keep destroying city’s aesthetics by greasing a few greedy palms in the city civic agencies.
HAs if precariously hanging electric wires were not enough of a threat to the lives of people in the city, Optical Fibre Cables (OFC) strung from trees and poles, - when they are meant to be underground - are now making even walking on the roads dangerous as one Bengalurean, 44- year- old, Gopal Rao discovered last month.
While crossing the busy Kengal Hanumanthaiah Road (Double Road), he tripped over a cable dangling dangerously from a tree and falling from the median, was run over by a speeding car, meeting a gruesome and entirely avoidable end.
Going by the BBMP, there are over 18 OFC companies in Bengaluru and they are all expected to follow the around 30 conditions it has laid down for cable operators. But they are clearly not doing so, as the cables have been laid legally only over 3000 kms and illegally over 10,000 kms in the city.
Ask Mr Gunashekar, chairman of the BBMP’s Taxation and Finance Committee and he ruefully admits that a lot of the OFC operators are resorting to all sorts of illegal ways of laying cables, taking them over trees, electric poles and so on, instead of taking permission from the civic agency for road cutting as they should.
“We have been asking the OFC operators to stop stringing the cables over trees and have been regularly conducting meetings with them on this. But although they agree with us during these meetings, they go back to their old ways later,” he regrets.
Double Road is only one of many roads with dangling OFC cables, points out Mr Ganesh, a resident of Vijaynagar. “Every road is almost the same. We find cables passing from one tree to another, through flyovers, buildings and so on. The OFC operators are better than spiders in weaving their cables through the city," he observes angrily.
Mr Sandeep Anirudhan, coordinator of a voluntary group, Citizens Agenda for Bengaluru, too warns that danger is lurking all around the city on account of the dangling OFC cables. “They have also become an eyesore,” he laments, blaming a lack of proper monitoring by the BBMP for the blatant flouting of rules by the operators.
“It does not require rocket science to shift all the OFC cables underground by providing a huge duct through which the operators can pass the cables and repair them when needed. But the BBMP top brass and engineers know that if this is done, the OFC mafia will not need to grease their hands to do things illegally,” he charges.
- There are over 18 Optical Fibre Companies in Bengaluru
- The BBMP has laid down over 30 conditions for them to follow.
- The BBMP expected a revenue of over '350 crore from OFC cables, but has managed to earn only '160 crore.
- The agency, which began a drive to cut all dangling OFC cables, had to call a halt to it as the operators got a stay of two weeks from the high court.
- Only around 3,000 kms of the OFC network is legal and over10,000 kms is illegal
OFC mafia stops Palike’s drive to cut overhead wires
The BBMP recently kick- started a drive to cut all overhanging wires, beginning from the TenderSure roads, but it didn't last very long as OFC cable operators quickly got a stay order of two weeks against it from the high court. While the civic agency hopes the court will rule in its favour and help it bring down the cables that are not just ruining the city’s ambience, but also proving a threat to people’s lives, it can do very little in the meanwhile.
Says a BBMP engineer attached to the OFC cell, "It is upto the local engineers to check and take action against OFC cable operators violating the rules imposed on them. The OFC business is a big mafia. The operators usually take permission to dig a certain length of road, but end up digging the whole stretch and even other roads nearby.”
The engineer, however, seems to believe there is hope ahead as ordinary people have become proactive in areas like Whitefield and are being watchful to prevent illegal digging of roads in their localities. “Whenever they see workers digging a road, they demand to see the permission issued by the BBMP to check if it is being done legally,” he observes, adding, “ We cannot suddenly curb this menace, which has been allowed to grow like a monster. It will take a while for us to bring everything under control.”
Recalling that the BBMP is considering setting up a separate agency for road digging, he says if it becomes a reality, then the OFC operators and government agencies like BESCOM and BWSSB will have to first deposit money with it for both road cutting and relaying it in advance. This could help things to a degree, he adds hopefully.
We will firmly deal with erring companies: MK Gunashekar, Chairman , BBMP Taxation and Finance Committee
Q: OFC cables, which should be laid underground, are seen hanging from every tree, electric pole and building . How is this being permitted?
A: Yes, the OFC cable mafia is spoiling the beauty of the city. It does not have any commitment to the city. These people are inhuman as the cables claimed a man’s life on Double Road last month. As they need to take permission for road cutting from the BBMP, they are resorting to all sorts of illegal means , taking the cables over trees, electric poles and so on.
Q: We also see OFC operators digging roads that were asphalted less than a year ago.
A: One of the modus operandi of the OFC mafia is to take permission to dig a road for say 300 meters and then dig up the entire stretch and nearby roads too.
Q: What action has the BBMP taken to curb this menace?
A: We have been asking the OFC operators to stop hanging wires over trees and have been regularly conducting meetings with them. During the meetings they agree with us, but again resort to illegal means. We had kicked off a drive to cut OFC wires hanging over TenderSURE roads, but it has been put on hold as the OFC operators got a stay from the high court. We will take action based on how things go in the high court and take the drive forward to other roads in the city soon.