After repeated complaints from residents over the safety risks posed by overhead cables, the BBMP has finally begun removing the optical fibre cables (OFC) in Bellandur, Sarjapur Main Road and other areas in the Mahadevapura Zone during last week of April.
Citizens in the area had been complaining about cables being hung in a haphazard manner on trees and electric poles. Despite the safety concerns being raised in ward meetings since November 2018, no action was taken by the authorities. Bellandur Development Forum, a residents’ body then lodged a complaint with the local police who filed an FIR against the telecom operators.
Vishnu, one of the coordinators of the Bellandur Development Forum says, “We have failed to look at this issue from a pedestrian’s point of view. All the cables are being tied up in a haphazard way as they dangle from poles, trees and footpaths making it difficult to walk. It still isn’t over, as there is no concrete solution in sight for this problem.”
However, the sudden drive is affecting internet services of major technology companies in the area like Uber, Wipro and PayPal. The Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) — an association of telecom companies, has issued a statement that the cutting of OFC without prior intimation to the providers would lead to outages and cause inconvenience to the users.
The statement added that the BBMP is treating all the overground cables as unauthorised even though necessary permissions have been obtained. The statement said they were forced to lay them overhead as they were removed accidentally during works carried out by the civic agencies. The COAI is also blaming the BBMP for affecting mobile phone towers across the city due to the drive.
Because of the internet outage, holidays were declared for offices in IT Parks where the services were affected. However, the residents aren’t complaining. “I think that everyone is ready to suffer for the cause. So, let it get sorted once and for all”, said a resident. Due to the enormity of the work to be done, the work has been confined to a few areas for now. Lack of personnel due to the Model Code of Conduct being in place, has also slowed the pace of work.
Careless work done by the telecom operators in digging up the roads to lay the underground cables and substandard patchwork have been a cause of concern for motorists in the area. The residents have demanded good infrastructure and the implementation of a structured cabling network in the roads where underground cables are not feasible. The residents also hope that there is a timeline for these issues to be resolved.
Utility services like BESCOM and BBMP have already started the drive across the city. Speaking to TNM, Shikha C, the managing director of BESCOM said that the required action is taken on a regular basis and the cables are being removed across the city.