Despite Chandigarh MC’s intervention, web of cables yet to be untangled

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 23

Despite the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation’s (MC) efforts to rein in the menace of cables entangled haphazardly on trees and poles across the city, there is no let-up from the problem.

It has been learnt that the civic body failed to remove some cables. Many of those removed by the MC were replaced by the telecommunication firms and TV cable service providers. Large webs of wires entangled on trees and poles are not just an eyesore. Several low-lying cables dangling overhead also lead to mishaps on cycle tracks and roads.

Following an order by the MC, the companies have started laying cables underground after paying a permission fee. The MC has collected over Rs 18 crore through the collection of fee so far. Residents, however, are irked by the digging up of roads and pathways.

FOSWAC chairman Baljinder Singh Bittu said, “Residents are inconvenienced. The whole city has been dug up. There is no proper mechanism or timeframe for such activities. The dug-up roads are often not restored for days. Paver blocks and debris dumped at the sites are not lifted for days.”

BSNL General Manager MC Singh said, “We have all our cables either tied to our own poles or laid underground. In case a cable is tied to a tree or installed in some other unauthorised space, we remove it. Like Punjab, Chandigarh should allow companies to tie cables to electricity poles.”

MC Commissioner Anindita Mitra said, “For the past one year, we have been removing unauthorised cables. Sometimes, they (the companies) put up the cables again.”

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