Cable mess: Tangled wires mar Rajinder Nagar’s beauty

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, June 30

Coiled cables hang limply on a pole as a network of more straight and taut black wires runs forth busily in all directions, dotting the skyline of the otherwise green and pleasing Rajinder Nagar area. White buildings and verdant trees of the area are marred by the black abstraction which crisscrosses its streets.

The Municipal Corporation or sucessive councillors have done little to rid the pillars of the black mess which scars the scenic beauty of areas.

While the congested bazaar or other garbage-ridden areas are absolutely ignored, even in relatively cleaner areas like Rajinder Nagar, the towering eyesore of black cables have been allowed to remain. A systematic solution to this added civic menace finds little space in the discourse of governance.

A local shopkeeper says, “Parties promise free wifi and several other things. But they seldom know what to do with all the wires marring the city skies. A simple civic initiative can rid cities of the problem. But with even problems like garbage piling and water getting increasingly polluted finding no solution, who is going to think about bettering the look of the city higher up.”

Seema, who goes for a stroll in the local park daily, says, “When we walk, we look up to the sky to relax, but all we see are wires. People were already having a hard time managing electricity wires. Now this new mess of cable and wifi wires has further muddied things. Poles are drowned in black mess. The beauty of the city has been battered by these wires. They are also put up irresponsibly and at times pose trouble to moving vehicles. If an organised laying plan would have been decided beforehand, this problem wouldn’t have happened.”