Overhead Cables: Erring telcos asked to pay fee by December 16

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Chandigarh, December 5

The Municipal Corporation has asked erring telecom companies to pay fee within two weeks if they want time to lay underground cables and wires.

If the requisite fee is not submitted after all formalities and processes by next Friday (December 16), the drive to remove illegal overhead cables would continue.

The firms will first have to get geographic information system (GIS) mapping done and get other clearances before they pay the fee.

As of now, two companies are yet to clear their dues for laying of cables. One of these is in the process of getting all approvals and paying Rs 7 crore fee, the other has agreed to deposit around Rs 2 crore with the MC. The third has already cleared all its dues.

The issue of removing overhead cables and wires had earlier rocked the House meeting of the Municipal Corporation as councillors had demanded companies be given more time for shifting cables underground.

MC Commissioner Anindita Mitra, however, told them the firms should pay the permission fee before seeking more time.A policy for finalisation of laying of a network of optical fibre cable for running Internet services was approved at the General House meeting in 2020. It was resolved that all illegal cables would be removed, but things got delayed due to Covid.

The enforcement started after a three-month deadline got over on October 31. After the civic body started removing cables, many firms came forward to pay fee for permission to lay underground cables.