Telangana: Project faces delay as Transco, SCB spar

Hyderabad: Officials of Transco and the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) are at loggerheads over road digging with the former accusing the latter of stalling works. The work in question is road-cutting for the final round of cable-joint rectification, which is part of the Rs 100-crore 132 KV underground cable project that connects the sub-stations between Gun Rock and Patigadda.

Cantonment authorities, meanwhile, said that the Transco was making an issue out of it unnecessarily because it had sought revised restoration charges of Rs 15 lakh instead of the Rs 5 lakh charged earlier. Transco officials, meanwhile, alleged that the SCB had laid water pipelines over the UG cable at three locations without consulting them. Officials from both Transco and SCB are charged up over the issue, accusing each other of high-handedness.

Enquiries by DC revealed that the 132 KV underground cable laying work had been completed last December. The testing of the cable was done in a phased manner. The final round of testing is planned for now. “It is the final round of testing, and rectification of cable joints and junction points is mandatory. Already such rectifications have been carried out at two locations in the Cantonment limits. This is the third one  located near Imperial Gardens. Without any notice, the SCB engineers have revised the road cutting and restoration charges. While an engineer initially said the bill would be Rs 5 lakh, now another engineer has all of a sudden revised it to over Rs 15 lakh. We are government departments and payment is made sooner or later, but SCB is not allowing the works to progress,” said a senior Transco official.

When contacted, TS Transco director (Transmission) T. Jagat Reddy said even the traffic police had given a green signal for road cutting for the cable-joint rectification work. “We are seeking details of how the road cutting and restoration charges jumped from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. While one engineer of SCB gives Rs 5 lakh estimation, the other one comes up with Rs 15 lakh restoration charges,” he said.

SCB assistant engineer Mr Iqbal Mohammed said Transco officials should understand that the earlier two pits were narrow and were smaller in size. “This is the third pit and a huge one. All road cutting and restoration charges are levied as per rules only after they are approved by the highest authority in SCB. Why are they making an issue about it? The cantonment board also paid nearly Rs 7 lakh towards shifting of four to five electricity poles on the same road to the TS power utility. We are government departments and every action is accounted for,” he added.