JOIN USReckless road digging leads to water wastage
On Sunday morning, a telecom company dug a pit on Brunton Road for cable repair work despite residents' protest.
"We are fed up of these telecom companies digging up the road. When we asked them to furnish the permission they were indifferent. Soon, they broke the water pipe," protested Malladi, an angry resident. At the time of the digging only workers could be spotted.
Continual efforts to track down the BBMP and BWSSB officials on Sunday did not yield much. In the mean time water flowed into the drains and disrupted the water supply in surrounding areas.
At the end it was Shanti Nagar MLA N A Harris who responded to the residents' call and tried to get the telecom company fix the water leakage. When Deccan Herald visited the place on Monday morning, site engineer Perumal, on behalf of the company, was discussing with a contractor, who was demanding an exorbitant price to fix the water pipe. The engineer said that they were trying to undertake cable repairs and had inadvertently smashed the water pipe.
Another resident Sajid said this was a frequent problem on Brunton Road. "Most the telecom companies keep digging up the road frequently," he said pointing out to manhole covers and shoddy cover up jobs on the road every 50 feet.
"We knew these people did not have permission. Even if they did they did not contact a BWSSB person who could tell them where the water pipe was located," he added.
A cursory look at Brunton Road tells a tale of dug out pits over several places on the road. Telephone cables can be found hanging from the trees, as telecom companies have damaged asphalted roads and installed boxes on foot paths for cable repairs.
BWSSB has now filed a complaint with the Ashoknagar police and will be charging the private telecom company for the wasted drinking water. The BBMP too will be levying a penalty on the company for digging without permission. But whether this act deters telecom companies from digging up roads indiscriminately needs to be watched, as the private telecom company's onsite engineer is reported to have said at the police station, "Fine us how much ever you want, our company will pay."